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IVCO 


I. 


Or>el,iOTi.esu7urrQukiMPa'^ru7ASua. 


pa^.,jl 


,  possximushaoberte  ;"N 


liutrii'j  l^thM/m/tkir  fn*Jtm>tif 


THE 


REPUBIilC  OF   CICERO, 


TRANSLATED  FROM  THE  LATIN; 


AND  ACCOMPANIED  WITH  A 


CRITICAL  AND  HISTORICAL  INTRODUCTION. 


BY 


G.  W.  FEATHERSTONHAUGH,  Esq. 

FELLOW  OF  THE  GEOLOGICAL  SOCIETY    OF  LONDON  ;    OF  THE 

AMERICAN    PHILOSOPHICAL  SOCIETY  ;    OF    THE    LYCEUM 

OF   NATURAL  HISTORY   OF   NEW-YORK,  &C.  &C.  &C. 


NEW-YORK ; 
PUBLISHED  BT  G.  &  C.  CARVILL,  108  BBO^DWAY. 


SOUTHERN  DISTRICT  OF  NEW- YORK,  ss. 

Be  it  remembered,  that  on  the  23d  day  of  January,  A.  D.  1829, 
in  the  fifty-third  year  of  the  Independence  of  the  United  States  of 
America,  G.  &  C.  Carvill,  of  the  said  district,  hath  deposited  in 
this  oflSce  the  title  of  a  book,  the  right  whereof  they  claim  as  proprie- 
tors, in  the  words  following,  to  wit  : 

"  The  Republic  of  Cicero,  translated  from  the  Latin  ;  and  ac- 
companied with  a  Critical  and  Historical  Introduction.  By  G. 
W.  Featherstonliaugh,  Esq.,  Fellow  of  the  Geological  Society 
of  London  ;  of  the  American  Philosophical  Society  ;  of  the  Lyceum 
of  Natural  History  of  New-York,  &c.  &c.  &c." 

In  conformity  to  the  Act  of  Congress  of  the  United  States,  entitled, 
"  An  Act  for  the  encouragement  of  leammg,  by  securing  the  copies 
of  maps,  charts,  and  books,  to  the  authors  and  proprietors  of  such 
copies,  during  the  times  tlierein  mentioned  ;"  and  also,  to  an  Act,  en- 
titled, "An  Act,  supplementary  to  an  Act,  entitled  an  Act  for  the 
encouragement  of  learning,  by  securing  the  copies  of  maps,  charts, 
and  books,  to  the  authors  and  proprietors  of  such  copies,  during  the 
times  therein  mentioned,  and  extending  the  benefits  thereof  to  the 
urts  of  designing,  engraving,  and  etching  historical  and  other  prints." 

FRED.  I.  BETTS, 
Clerk  of  the  Southern  District  of  ^etc-York. 


ERRATA. 

Introduction,  p.  22,  line  12,  dele  "  then." 

Do.  p.  27,  line  16,  for  "  requires,"  read  "  require. 


Sleigkt  &  George,  Printers,  Jamaica,  L.  I. 


r 


JG, 


TO  AW/ri 

RODERICK  IIVTPEY  MFRCHISON,  Esq. 

F.  R.  S.,  F.  G.  S.,  &c.  &c.  &c. 


I  DEDICATE  these  pages  to  you,  my 
dear  Murchison,  that  you  may  have  a 
renewed  assurance  of  my  great  esteem 
and  friendship  for  you.  I  should  have 
had  a  livelier  satisfaction  in  doing  so,  if 
the  part  I  have  had  in  the  production  of 
them,  were  more  worthy  of  your  refined 
taste.  I  hope  to  offer  some  compensa- 
tion, however,  in  the  assurance,  that  you 
will  find  in  them  many  congenial  opinions 
and  principles. 

G.  W.  Featherstonhaugh. 

Nfw^York,  Januarj'  21,  1829. 


4SS3 


s^^,^ 


PREFACE. 

I  AM  not  aware  that  any  translation  of 
the  Republic  of  Cicero  into  the  English 
tongue  has  been  made. 

Believing  that  it  cannot  but  excite  a 
deep  interest  with  generous  minds,  as 
well  on  account  of  the  high  nature  of  the 
subject,  the  illustrious  name  of  Cicero, 
as  of  the  great  motives  which  led  him  to 
compose  this  work,  I  venture  to  offer  a 
translation  of  it  to  the  public. 

In  this  extensive  republic,  where  every 
individual  reads,  it  appears  peculiarly 
proper,  that  an  English  dress  should  be 
given  to  a  work,  of  which  almost  every 
page  teaches,  that  public  happiness  de- 
pends upon  individual  virtue. 


O  PREFACE. 

Cicero's  definition  of  a  republic,  that  it 
is  an  association  of  the  people  for  the 
defence  and  advancement  of  the  common 
interest ;  will  be  understood  here,  which 
may  be  doubtingly  said  of  any  other  re- 
publics now  in  existence. 

A  bare  translation  of  the  fragments  of 
this  mutilated  work,  unassisted  by  any 
commentary,  could  not  but  have  been  un- 
satisfactory. The  deficiencies  of  the  ori- 
ginal are  somewhat  compensated  to  us, 
not  alone  in  the  grandeur  of  thought 
which  pervades  it,  but  in  the  majesty  of 
diction,  precise,  elevated,  as  it  frequently 
is,  and  always  governed  by  the  most  re- 
fined taste.  It  would  be  a  vain  efibrt  to 
attempt  the  dignity  of  the  Latin  tongue, 
when  adorned  with  the  elegancies  of  the 
Ciceronian  style.  Humbly  as  the  transla- 
tion may  deserve  to  be  considered,  it  will 
perhaps  be  deemed  sufficiently  faithful ; 
and  that  the  translator  has  not  altogether 


PREFACE.  / 

failed  in  pointing  out  to  grave  and  reflect- 
ing minds,  the  immediate  cause  of  the 
ruin  of  a  noble  Republic. 

He  has  therefore  prefixed  a  brief  histo- 
rical introduction ;  the  which,  whether  it 
will  be  thought  too  long,  or  not  sufficient- 
ly detailed,  will  probably  depend  upon 
the  reader's  historical  recollections.  The 
motive  for  drawing  it  up  was  to  render 
the  work  more  generally  useful  and  ac- 
ceptable. 


INTRODUCTION. 


The  imperfect  manuscript,  a  translation  of  which  is 
now  presented  to  the  American  pubHc,  was  discovered 
in  the  Library  of  the  Vatican,  by  Professor  Angelo 
Mai ;  a  person  of  singular  ingenuity  in  the  detection  of 
those  PaHmpsests  whose  contents  were  written  upon  an- 
cient writings  partially  erased.  A  fac  simile  of  part  of 
the  MSS.  accompanies  this  work.  The  Republic  of 
Cicero  was  greatly  cherished  by  those  who  lived  in  and 
near  his  times  ;  of  which  occasional  evidences  are  found 
in  the  writings  of  antiquity.  But  the  tyranny  of  the 
emperors  bridled  the  Romans  so  soon  after  its  appear- 
ance, that  Horace,  Virgil,  Seneca,  Quintilian,  Pliny, 
and  even  Tacitus,  have  not  dared  to  praise  it,  lest  they 
should  bring  down  vengeance  upon  themselves.  It  is 
remarkable  that  while  despotism  was  rapidly  extinguish- 
ing philosophy  and  letters,  and  the  very  existence  of 
these  precious  monuments  of  better  times  was  scarcely 
thought  of;  the  Christian  religion  was  gradually  raising 
up  amidst  the  persecutions  of  the  primitive  church, 
new  champions  for  truth  and  justice  ;  to  whose  works 
2 


%,  >    e   7-  .'  I!*^RODUCTi5N. 


we  are  indebted  for  many  valuable  fragments  of  the 
best  writers  of  antiquity,  and  for  almost  all  the  passages 
of  Cicero's  Republic  which  we  were  jacquainted  with, 
until  the  late  discovery  of  professor  Mai.  It  is  in  the 
works  of  St.  Augustin  iind  of  Lactantius  that  these 
passages  most  abound ;  and  they  are  appealed  to  by.^  ]h 
them  as  most  eloquent  arguments,  in  support  of  just 
government,  and  virtuous  conduct.  Scipio's  Dream, 
forming  the  only  part  of  the  sixth  book  ^bich  has  been 
.  preserved,  and  which  is  one  of  the  most  splendid  pas- 
sages that  has  been  saved  from  antiquity,  has  long  had 
a  place  in  the  works  of  Macrobius,  a  writer  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  fifth  century,  addicted  to  the  Pythagorean 
mysticisms  ;  and  who  has  preserved  it  probably  on  ac- 
count of  the  occult  astronomical  relation  of  numbers 
contained  in  it.  Notwithstanding  the  mutilated  state 
of  the  MSS.,  the  order  of  the  books  is  distinctly  pre- 
served, the  general  plan  of  the  work  is  obvious,  and  we 
have  much  greater  reason  to  rejoice  at  what  we  possess, 
than  to  regret  what  is  wanting.  The  disordered  state  _ 
of  the  government  and  the  republic  at  large^  evidently 

suggested  to  Cicero  this  patriotic  and  bold  attempt  to 

stenithe^  influence  of  bad  men,  and  raise  the  falling 

liberties   of  his  country.     ^  this  highly  philosophical 

i^"-- ■ — -  ■  ■         #^  •  ~_  --— . 

idiscourse  he  sought  to  recall  the  Romans  from  the  in* 

1  terests  of  ambitious-  individuals,  and  fix  their  attention 


INTRODUCTION.  ^^^ 

jipon  the  greater  interests  of  the  country,  where  each 


man  had  a  stake  :  to  revive  their  veneration  for  the  sim- 


plicity of  the  early  institutions  of  Rome,  and  for  the 


men  who  had  made  themselves  illustrious  by  their  vir* 


tues  :  and  to  guard  the  people  more  effectually  against 
4he  innovations  and  facti<;>ns  now  sncrppdinpr  each  other 


with  so  much  rapidity,  he  invests  those  ancient  times  _ 
with  a  perfection,  that  the  attractions  of  his  eloquence  _ 
alone  can  excuse. 

Of  the  origm.al  simplicity  of  the  government,  some  j 
evidences  are  afforded  by  this  work;  as  where  it  is  stated 
|that  lands  were  assigned  to  the  sovereign,  and  cultivated 
for  him  by  the  people,  that  he  might  have  nothing  to  do 
but  administer  justice.  The  principal  men  too  of  the 
state  in  those  early  times  lived  in  the  vicinity  of  Rome, 
cultivating  a  small  possession.  The  illustrious  names 
of  Fabius,  Lentulus,  Cicero,  &c.,  were  perhaps  given 
to  those  husbandmen  who  excelled  in  tlie  cultivation  of 
those  vegetables ;    such  was   the  opinion  of  Pliny.* 

The  censor  had  the  power  of  reprimanding  those 
whose  fields  were  slovenly  cultivated.  Many  customs 
of  those  antique  times  are  found  in  Cato's  curious 
Treatise  on  Rural  Affairs.  "  Our  ancestors  constitu- 
ted and  ordained  thus  in  their  Laws  :  A  thief  was 
condemned  to  double  restitution  ;  an  usurer  to  quadru- 

*  His.  Nat.  18.  3.  1. 


4  INTRODUCTION. 

P%*J  Yo"  may  judge  from  this  hovt^  much  worse  a  citi-  , 
zen  they  deemed  the  usurer  to  be  tj^an  the  thief.  And 
when  they  praised  a  worthy  man,  they  spoke  thus 
of  him  :  *  that  he  was  a  good  farmer,  an  excellent' 
husbandman.'  He  that  was  commended  in  these  terms, 
was  thought  to  be  praised  enough."*  And  again  speak- 
ing of  a  good  husbandman,  he  says,  f'  He  should  part 
with  his  old  cattle,  his  weaned  calves  and  lambs,  his 
wool,  his  skins,  his  old  carts  and  woi-n  out  irons,  his  old 
slaves,  and  his  sick  ones  ;  and  if  he  has  got  any  thing 
else  he  does  not  want,  let  him  sell  it.  A  father  of  a 
family  ought  always  to  sell  and  never  to  buy."  Dion 
says  that  a  messenger  summoned  the  patricians  by  name, 
but  that  the  people  were  convened  by  the  blcncing  of  a 
horn.'f  But  the  splendid  military  goyjgrnment  which 
soon  grew  up,  gave  both  state  employment  and  riches 
to  that  class  once  distinguished  for  their  industry  and 
jfrugality.  Agriculture  was  abandoned  to  slaves,  and 
men  branded  for  crimes  :  it  was  no  longjer  deemed  an 
honourable  employment.  Luxury  and  habits  of  profu- 
sion made  it  necessary  for  conspicuous  men  to  acquire 
the  means  of  indulging  in  them,  at  the  expense  of  prin- 
ciple and  patriotism.  At  length  when  sensual  gratifica- 
tions became  dearer  to  a  majority  of  the  Romans  than 

*  Cato  de  Re  Rustica.     Majorcs  cnim  nostri,  &c* 
i  Dio.  11.8.     Gelliusxv.  27. 


INTRODUCTION. 


iiberly,  the  republic  was  overthrown,  and  military  des- 
j  potism  accomplished  the  circle  of  military  influence  ; 
extinguished  every  spark  of  light  and  liberty  ;  stripped 
the  empire  of  its  moral  and  physical  power,  and  left  it 
unmindful  of  its  past  glorious  existence,  to  perish  in  a 
blind  and  helpless  old  age. 

Marcus  Tullius  Cicero  was  born  at  Arpinum,  a  city 
of  the  Samnites,  which  had  long  enjoyed  the  freedom 
of  Rome.  His  family  was  an  ancient  one,  and  of  the 
equestrian  order ;  which  comprehended  the  most  re- 
spectable gentry  of  the  empire,  who  were  only  inferior 
in  rank  to  the  patricians.  Having  assumed  the  manly 
gown  at  his  sixteenth  year,  he  immediately  began  to  ac- 
quire a  knowledge  of  the  laws  of  his  country,  under 
the  two  Scsevolas,  eminent  persons  of  that  day.  The 
Marsian  w^ar,  and  the  civil  broils  of  Marius  and  Sylla,  the 
former  of  whom  was  also  a  native  of  Arpinum,  occurred 
during  the  prosecution  of  his  civil  studies  ;  and  although 
they  gave  some  interruption  to  them,  yet  these  violent 
contentions  falling  immediately  under  his  observation, 
he  became  at  an  early  period  accustomed  to  consider 
the  political  situation  of  his  country.  These  circum- 
stances no  doubt  had  some  influence  in  deciding  his 
future  career ;  although  the  rare  natural  activity  of  his 
mind  would  perhaps  have  led  him  under  any  situation  to 
the  investigation  of  all  moral  and  physical  relations. 
2* 


»  INTRODUCTION. 

Prompted  by  this  impulse,  he  now  began  the  study  of 
Orecian  philosophy  under  the  learned  Athenians  who 
fled  to  Rome  from  the  persecutions  of  Mithridates,  and 
afterwards  perfected  himself  in  it  under  Molo  the 
Rhodian  ;  a  man  so  distinguished,  that  he  was  permit- 
ted to  address  the  Roman  Senate  in  the  Greek  tongue 
without  an  interpreter.  About  the  age  of  twenty-six, 
with  his  mind  filled  with  all  the  knowledge  taught  at  that 
period,  he  first  began  to  plead  at  the  Forum.  His  cele- 
brated successful  defence  of  S.  Roscius  was  made  soon 
after,  in  which  he  braved,  what  the  other  Roman  orators 
had  not  dared  to  do,  the  resentment  of  Sylla.  By  this 
bold  measure,  the  generosity  of  his  character,  as  wellv 
as  the  force  of  his  talents,  were  developed,  and  his  re- 
putation estabUshed  as  the  most  powerful  orator  of 
Rome.  He  visited  Athens  not  long  after  this  period, 
partly  to  avoid  the  displeasure  of  Sylla,  and  partly  to 
renew  the  study  of  philosophy,  which  he  here  pursued 
with  great  ardour.  His  friend  Atticus,  who  was  at 
Athens  at  the  same  time,  had  embraced  the  Epicurean 
doctrines ;  but  Cicero  appears  at  this  early  period  to 
have  believed  in  a  future  state  ;  a  doctrine  which  at  a 
later  period  he  has  most  eloquently  recorded  in  his  cele- 
brated Dream  of  Scipio.  At  the  end  of  two  years,  he 
returned  to  Rome,  greatly  improved  by  his  intercourse 
with  the  philosopliers  and  orators  of  Greece  and  Asia. 


r 


INTRODUCTION, 


In  his  thirty-first  year,  and  not  long  after  his  mar- 
riage, he  was  elected  to  the  qusestorship,  which  opened 
his  way  to  the  Senate.  One  of  the  provinces  of  Sicily 
fell  to  him  by  lot,  and  he  exercised  his  qusestorial  func- 
tions with  such  moderation  and  ability,  as  to  induce  the 
Sicilians  to  confer  extraordinary  honours  upon  him  at 
the  termination  of  his  year  ;  when  he  returned  to  Rome, 
determined  henceforward  to  withdraw  himself  as  little 
as  possible  from  the  eyes  of  the  Roman  people.  In  his 
thirty-seventh  year  he  received  the  unanimous  suffrages 
of  all  the  tribes  for  the  edileship,  which  introduced  him 
into  the  magistracy.  The  exhibition  of  the  shows  and 
games,  which  was  the  province  of  the  ediles,  was  con- 
ducted by  Cicero  with  great  satisfaction  to  the  people, 
and  without  injuring  materially  his  own  private  fortune. 
In  this  he  achieved  a  difficult  point,  which  marks  his 
great  prudence  and  address.  So  great  had  the  affec- 
tion of  the  people  now  become  for  him,  that  at  three 
different  elections  for  prjetor,  he  was  each  time  placed 
at  the  head  of  the  Hst  by  the  unanimous  vote  of  all  the 
centuries.  In  his  forty-third  year,  having  been  very 
diligent  in  strengthening  his  interest,  he  became  a  can- 
didate for  the  consulship  with  others  ;  among  whom 
were  L.  Sergius  Cataline  :  but  such  was  his  popularity 
that  he  was  saluted  consul  by  acclamation  of  the  peo- 
ple before  the  votes  were  counted.     He  received  also  a 


,  o  INTRdDUCTION. 

Strong  support  from  the  patricians,  who  had  uniformly 
been  opposed  to  his  advancement ;  but  Cicero's  reputa- 
tion for  knowledge  and  probity  was  so  great,  and  the 
times  were  becoming  so  critical,  that  they  deemed  the 
government  safe  in  his  hands.  The  patricians  at  this 
time  were  of  the  faction  of  Sylla,  to  which  also  Cata- 
iine  belonged  :  and  the  Tribunes  and  the  people  were 
of  the  Marian  faction ;  at  the  head  of  which  was  Julius 
Caesar,  a  near  relation  to  Marius.  Although  Caesar, 
and  Cicero  were  both  on  the  popular  side,  yet  they  were 
not  united  upon  any  common  principles  of  order.  Caesar 
was  always  individually  opposed  to  him  :  and  when 
Cicero  being  consul,  was  endeavouring  in  the  senate 
to  bring  the  associates  of  Cataline  to  punishment; 
Caesar  defended  them,  and  even  indirectly  encouraged 
their  cause,  by  declaring  his  disbelief  in  the  immor- 
tality of  the  soul.  The  suppression  of  this  conspiracy 
of  Cataline,  Cethegus,  Lentulus  and  many  others, 
among  whom  Caesar  was  generally  numbered,  raised  the 
reputation  of  Cicero  to  the  greatest  height.  By  his 
incessant  vigilance,  Rome  was  saved  from  the  horrors 
of  a  general  massacre  and  pillage.  The  greatest  ho- 
nours were  paidhim  by  the  senate  and  equestrian  order: 
and  for  the  first  time  the  sublime  epithet  of  *'  Father  of 
his  Country"  was  addressed  to  a  Roman  citizen  in  the 


INTRODUCTION.  » 

senate,  in  the  person  of  Cicero.*  This  great  action  of 
his  life  he  most  feehngly  alludes  to  in  the  introduction 
to  his  first  book  of  the  Republic.  '*  Nor  is  my  name 
forgotten,"  &c.  The  feelings  too  which  the  circum- 
stances attending  the  verj  last  act  of  his  consulship  ex- 
cited in  him,  are  eloquently  pourtrayed  in  a  passage  im- 
mediately following.  It  was  the  custom  for  the  consul 
at  the  expiration  of  his  office,  to  make  a  speech  in  the 
assembly  of  the  people,  and  to  swear  that  he  had  exe- 
cuted his  duties  with  fidelity.  When  he  was  already  in 
the  rostra,  and  was  about  to  address  the  whole  people 
assembled  on  this  interesting  occasion  ;  Metellus,  a 
new  tribune,  prompted  by  the  officious  spirit  of  popular 
authority,  which  often  delights  to  mortify  the  great  and 
good,  forbade  the  consul  to  address  the  people, 
alleging  that  Cicero  having  caused  Lentulus  and  the  rest 
to  suffer  death  without  being  heard  in  their  defence,  did 
not  deserve  to  be  heard  himself.  Whereat  with  an 
enthusiastic  presence  of  mind  peculiar'  to  himself,  ho 
swore  with  a  loud  voice  that  he  had  saved  the  repubHc  : 
and  the  multitude  moved  by  a  generous  feeling  which 
the  demagogues  had  no  time  to  tamper  with,  more 
than  atoned  to  him  for  the  intended  affiont  from  their 
tribune,  by  a  simultaneous  shout  that  he  had  sworn 

*  Roma  patrem  patriae  Ciceronem  libera  dixit,    Juy.  8, 


iO  INTRODUCTION. 

nothing  but  the  truth,*  and  by  accompanying  him  from 
the  Forum  to  his  own  house. 

In  this  most  glorious  year  of  his  life,  and  at  the  very 
time  when  he  was  occupied  in  saving  his  country,  Octa- 
vius  Csesar  was  born ;  by  whose  arts  and  influence 
Cicero,  as  well  as  the  republic,  were  not  more  than 
twenty  years  after  destroyed.  And  although  he  had 
acted  so  noble  a  part  toward  his  country,  which  under 
his  government  had  been  saved  from  the  most  profligate 
attempt  that  had  yet  been  made  upon  its  hberties  ;  and 
enjoyed  the  highest  rank  in  the  senate,  and  the  first 
consideration  from  all  good  men ;  corruption  had  now 
reached  such  a  height,  that  pre-eminence  in  virtue,  shi- 
ning forth  in  so  active  a  citizen  as  Cicero,  who  was  con- 
stantly thwarting  the  designs  of  bad  men,  served  but  to 
unite  their  efforts  against  him.  He  became  hencefor- 
ward the  object  of  their  hatred  and  vengeance.  Caesar, 
who  did  not  believe  in  a  future  state,  and  who  conse- 
quently *had  no  principle  to  restrain  him,  was  constantly 
plotting  means  to  usurp  the  government.  Pompey,  in 
whose  interest  Cicero  had  always  been,  and  who  at  the 
close  of  the  Mithridatic  war  had  become  the  most  pow- 
erful man  in  the  Republic,  was  afraid  to  disoblige  the 
numerous  enemies  of  Cjcefo,  and  declined  even  to 

♦  Magna  Voce  me  vere  jurassc  juravit.     Ep«  fam.  5.  2. 


INTRODtrCTION.  11 

Strengthen  him  by  a  public  approbation  of  the  measures 
he  had  taken  to  suppress  the  conspiracy  of  CatiHne. 
The  luxurious  and  the  qorrupt,  who  far  outnumbered 
the  rest,  were  willing  to  sell  the  republic  and  themselves 
to  the  highest  bidders.  The  people  were  as  usual  the 
tools  of  demagogues.  Every  thing  conspired  to  acce- 
lerate the  downfall  of  the  republic.  In  the  face  of  these 
fearful  odds  stood  Cicero,  a  large  majority  of  the  senate, 
and  of  the  equestrian  order,  which  comprehendeid  the 
independent  landholders  and  gentry  of  the  Roman  na- 
tion :  and  with  but  little  other  support  than  the  satisfac- 
tion of  being  engaged  in  the  noblest  of  causes,  the 
maintenance  of  regular  government.  It  is  most  pain- 
ful to  look  back  upon  the  history  of  the  degradation  of 
such  a  people  ;  corrupted  and  ruined  by  their  blind  ad- 
miration of  that  falsest  of  all  idols,  military  glory. 

An  event  occurred  the  year  after  his  consulate,  which 
brought  him  into  a  new  conflict  with  some  of  the  worst 
of  these  men.  P.  Clodius,  at  this  time  a  quaestor,  a 
vicious  and  debauched  young  man  of  family,  and  who 
possessed  many  personal  advantages,  had  an  intrigue 
with  Caesar's  wife  Pompeia.  Satiated  with  ordinary 
voluptuousness,  he  disguised  himself  as  a  woman,  and 
entered  the  house  of  Pompeia  in  the  night  time,  when 
she  with  other  distinguished  Roman  matrons,  was  cele- 
brating the  mysteries  of  the  Bona  Dea,  or  Patroness  of 


12 


INTRODUCTION. 


Chastity.  He  was  discovered  and  fled.  Such  was  the 
respect  in  which  these  mysteries,  at  which  women  alone 
officiated,  were  held,  that  the  profanation  excited  the 
utmost  indignation  throughout  the  city.  Even  Caesar 
found  it  necessary  to  put  away  his  wife.  The  senate 
directed  the  consuls  to  prepare  a  law  for  the  trial  of 
Clodius  before  the  people,  which  was  resisted  by  one  of 
the  tribunes  friendly  to  Clodius.  At  length  it  was 
agreed  that  a  law  should  be  passed  to  try  him  before  the 
praetor  and  a  select  number  of  judges.  Clodius  rested 
his  defence  upon  an  alibi,  which  he  endeavoured  to  sus- 
tain by  witnesses.  When  Cicero  was  called  to  give  his 
deposition,  he  was, insulted  by  the  mob  which  adhered 
to  Clodius ;  but  such  was  the  veneration  in  which  he 
was  held,  that  the  judges  stood  up,  and  received  him 
with  great  honour.  He  testified  that  Clodius  had  been 
with  him  in  his  house  in  Rome  on  the  very  day  of  the 
pollution.  Caesar  who  was  also  called,  said  that  he  was 
ignorant  of  the  whole  affair ;  although  it  occurred  in  his 
,own  house,  and  in  the  presence  of  his  mother  and  sis- 
ter, who  had  deposed  to  the  truth  of  the  accusation. 
Being  asked,  why  then  he  had  put  away  his  wife  ?  he 
answered,  "  Because  those  who  are  connected  with  me, 
must  be  as  free  from  suspicion  as  from  crime."* 

*  Quoniam,  inquit,  meos  tarn  suspicione  quamcriraine  judicocarere 
oportere.     Suet.  J.  C»3.  74. 


INTRODUCTION.  13 

That  the  wife  of  Cgesar  must  be  free  even  from  sus- 
picion, is  a  saying  that  has  passed  down  to  our  days  : 
yet  too  many  who  have  heard  it  are  ignorant  of  the 
circumstances  attending  its  origin.  We  read  the  com- 
mentaries of  Caesar  at  school,  and  are  fired  with  admi- 
ration at  his  talents  and  successes.  We  are  thus  pre- 
pared to  pity  his  death  and  the  manner  of  it.  But  the 
military  and  political  glories  of  Caesar,  can  never  fur- 
nish an  apology  for  a  profligate  private  life  ;  and  a  me- 
morable saying  is  stripped  of  every  attraction,  when  we 
know  that  it  was  uttered  by  the  lips  of  a  perjured  atheist. 

In  a  letter  to  Atticus,  Cicero  draws  a  curious  picture 
of  the  judges  selected  to  try  this  famous  cause  ;  a  ma- 
jority of  whom  appears  to  have  been  packed  from  the 
outcasts  of  all  the  orders,  and  to  have  been  paid  for  the 
occasion.  Clodius  was  acquitted  by  a  majority  of  thir- 
ty»one  voices  over  twenty-five.  Upon  their  appoint- 
ment some  of  them  had  requested  a  guard  from  the 
senate  to  protect  them  from  the  mob.  Upon  which 
occasion,  Catulus  a  distinguished  member  of  the  senate, 
very  facetiously  asked  one  of  the  judges,  "  why  they 
wanted  a  guard,  and  whether  it  was  to  protect  the  money 
which  Clodius  had  bribed  them  with  ?" 

After  his  acquittal,  Clodius  was  wont  to  attempt  to 
throw  ridicule  upon  Cicero  in  the  senate,  finding  it  vain 
to  encounter  him  in  argument,  and  hoping  to  divert  in 
3 


14  INTRODUCTIOW. 

some  degree  the  force  of  his  attacks.  "  So  the  judges'- 
said  Clodius,  '*  would  give  no  credit  to  your  oath." 
"  Twenty-five  of  them  did,"  rephed  Cicero  :  "  the  rest 
would  give  you  none  it  seems,  but  made  you  pay  before- 
hand." 

After  the  return  of  Pompey  to  Rome,  as  well  as  of 
Caesar  from  Spain,  a  triumvirate  of  interests  was  form- 
ed between  these  two  and  Crassus:  each  having  his 
own  ascendancy  in  view.  Caesar,  to  make  the  interest 
it  was  thus  intended  to  direct  against  the  independence 
of  the  republic,  still  stronger,  made  overtures  to  Cicero, 
who  declined  connecting  himself  with  them.  At  length 
Caesar  openly  declared  against  him,  and  favoured  the 
election  of  Clodius  to  the  tribunate,  in  the  which  he 
succeeded.  Being  now  in  authority,  he  brought 
forward  the  law,  that  whoever  had  taken  away  the  life 
of  a  Roman  citizen,  uncondemned,  should  be  inter- 
dicted bread  and  water.  This  was  directed  against 
Cicero,  in  relation  to  his  consular  acts  respecting  the 
conspirators  ;  and  affected  him  so  much,  that  although 
the  law  was  in  general  terms,  and  his  name  was  not 
mentioned  in  it,  he  changed  his  garments,  and  appeared 
abroad  sordidly  dressed  to  attract  the  compassion  of 
the  people.  The  young  Romans  of  liberal  character, 
to  the  number  of  twenty  thousand  also  changed  their 
dress,  and  accompanied  him ;  soliciting  the  favour  of 


INTRODUCTION. 


15 


all  in  authority,  and  of  the  people,  against  the  passage 
of  this  law.     But  the  combination  of  bad  men  proved 
too  strong  against  him,  and  Pompey  having  refused  his 
protection,  Cicero  was  induced  by  the  advice  of  his 
friends,  to  withdraw  himself  into  a  temporary  exile  from 
Rome.     This  humiliating  event  took  place  in  his  forty- 
ninth  year.     Duringj  his  absence  his  residences  both  in 
town  and  country,  which  were  upon  a  scale  commensu- 
rate with  his  dignity,  were  despoiled  ;  and  together  with 
the  furniture  appropriated  by  the  consuls  and  by  Clo- 
dius.     At  length  the  daring  insolence  of  that  tribune, 
and  the  perpetual  broils  he  occasioned,  began  to  indis- 
pose all  men  against  him,  except  his  immediate  profli- 
gate retainers.     Advantage  was  taken  of  this  to  propose 
in  the  senate  the  recall  of  Cicero  ;  which  finally  pre- 
vailed at  a  very  numerous  convocation  of  the  senators 
and   magistrates ;    Clodius  alone   giving  a   dissenting 
voice.     At  its  final  passage  into  a  law  by  the  Roman 
people,  the  field  of  Mars  was  crowded  with  their  assem- 
bled centuries.    Such  was  the  public  veneration  for  him, 
that  voters  from  every  town  in  Italy  were  present  to  in- 
sure the  passage  of  a  law  which  restored  so  great  a 
benefactor  to  his  country.     All  the  centuries  concurred 
in  an  act  thus  most  solemnly  passed  by  the  whole  Ro- 
man people.     In  anticipation  of  the  event,  he  left  Dyr- 
rhachium  in  Macedonia,  and  soon  after  his  arrival  at 


16  INTRODUCTION. 

Brundisium,  where  his  daughter  TulHa  had  come  to 
meet  him,  he  received  the  welcome  news  from  Rome. 
His  journey  was  a  continued  triumph,  and  he  was  recei- 
ved on  his  arrival  at  the  city  in  the  most  enthusiastic 
manner.  An  insufficient  sum  of  money  was  voted  to 
him  to  rebuild  his  mansions.  When  he  had  almost 
finished  his  palatine  house,  it  was  attacked  by  one  of 
Clodius'  mobs,  and  destroyed.  Broils  and  slaughters 
were  now  so  common  in  the  streets  of  Rome,  that 
gladiators  were  retained  to  assist  in  these  feuds ;  in 
which  the  consuls  of  the  same  year  were  sometimes 
opposed  to  each  other.  Cicero  who  had  now  reached 
his  fifty-first  year,  was  again  made  to  feel  how  unremit- 
ting is  the  hatred  of  enemies,  and  uncertain  the  sup- 
port of  friends.  Public  virtue  appeared  to  him  to  have 
no  longer  any  value  in  the  eyes  of  the  Romans.  He 
saw  that  every  man  attended  more  to  his  private  safety 
and  advancement,  than  to  the  public  peace  and  dignity 
of  the  city  ;  and  perceiving  the  necessity  of  a  powerful 
protector  for  himself  and  family  in  his  old  age,  he  ap- 
pears from  one  of  his  letters  to  have  determined  to 
conform  himself  in  every  thing  to  the  pleasure  of  Pom- 
pey.  We  also  see  him  from  time  to  time  engaged  in 
agreeable  secvices  to  Cffisar,  with  whom  Pompey  was 
yet  connected.  Experience  and  persecution  appear  to 
have  induced  him  to  adopt  a  course  foreign  to  the  cha* 


INTRODUCTION.  17 


U 


racter  of  the  perfect  citizen  he  has  pourtrayed  in  his 

repubUc.     In  his  fourth  epistle  to  Atticus,  he  says*  "If 

they  will  not  be  friendly  to  me  who  possess  no  power,  / 

I  must  endeavour  to  make  those  like  me  who  have  the 

power  of  being  useful.     *  I  told  you  so  long  ago,'  you 

will  say  ;  I  know  that  you  did,  and  I  was  an  ass  for 

not  taking  your  advice."     The  opinion  too  of  his  friend 

Caelius,  would  have  great  weight  with  most  men,  in  such        > 

disturbed  times.     "  It  cannot  have  escaped  you,  that 

the  duty  of  men  amidst  domestic  dissensions,  is  to  es-       'v 

pouse  the  honestest  side,  as  long  as  the  contention  is 

of  a  civil  nature,  and  force  is  not  used.     But  when  it  * 

comes  to  wars  and  camps,  they  should  take  the  strong-         / 

est  side,  and  consider  that  the  best  which  is  the  most 

safe."t 

^The  influence  of  Caesar  was  now  becoming  very  con- 
spicuous. His  military  career  in  Gaul,  his  generosity, 
and  the  universality  of  his  talents,  gave  him  at  length  a 
pre-eminence  over  Pompey  in  the  public  estimation. 
Pompey  and  Crassus  had  entered  into  the  consulship 
with  Httle  observance  of  constitutional  forms ;  and, 
with  as  little  deference  to^the  senate,  had  caused  pro- 
vinces to  be  assigned  to  them  for  five  years.  Spain 
and  Africa  to  Pompey.     Syria  and  the  fatal  Parthian 

*  Sed  quoniam  qui  nihil  possunt,  &c. 
t  Ep.  fam.  8.  14. 

s* 


18  INTRODUCTION. 

war  to  Crassus.     This  triumvirate  had  now  almost  the 
whole  Roman  military  force  at  their  command. 

It  was  in  the  spring  of  the  next  year,  that  Cicero  at 
his  Cuman  villa,  began  his  famous  work  on  government. 
He  was  now  advancing  into  his  fifty-fourth  j^ear,  and  it 
appears  that  he  had  completed  his  work  before  he  enter- 
ed upon  his  command  in  Cilicia.  His  military  career 
^vas  distinguished  by  great  activity  and  judgment.  He 
was  saluted  emperor  by  the  army  upon  one  of  his  mili- 
tary successes,  and  returned  gladly  to  Rome  at  the  end 
of  the  year.  During  the  remainder  of  his  eventful  life, 
he  appears  to  have  found  comfort  only  in  the  cultivation 
of  philosophy  and  letters.  The  corruption  of  the  Ro- 
mans, the  ruin  of  the  republic,  the  death  of  his  beloved 
daughter,  and  his  separation  from  the  wife  he  had  lived 
with  thirty  years,  embittered  his  days.  He  was  too 
conspicuous  a  man  not  to  be  affected  by  all  the  political 
changes  which  took  place.  Crassus  perished  in  the 
Parthian  war ;  and  Caesar,  as  soon  as  he  felt  himself 
strong  enough,  crossed  the  Rubicon,  which  was  the 
limit  of  his  miUtary  command,  and  marched  upon  Rome, 
from  which  Pompey  and  the  senate  ingloriously  fled. 
Cicero  at  length  felt  himself  also  constrained  to  follow 
the  fortunes  of  Pompey,  because  he  believed  the  dignity 
of  the  Roman  name  was  alone  to  be  found  under  his 
banners.     And  when  the  battle  of  Pharsalia  left  Casar 


INTRODUCTION.  l9      , 

sole  master  of  the  Roman  world,  he  submitted  to  Cae- 
sar, because  there  was  no  other  government  to  submit 
to.  But  he  rejoiced  in  his  death,  of  which  he  was  a 
spectator,  and  to  the  last,  gave  all  the  aid  in  his  power 
to  the  patriots  who  sought  to  raise  the  liberties  of  his 
country.  In  his  latter  days,  he  showed  an  invincible 
spirit,  defying  the  profligate  Anthony  in  the  plenitude  of 
his  power.  And  when  the  assassins  of  the  second  and 
more  bloody  triumvirate  surprised  him,  he  ordered  his 
servants  to  set  down  the  Utter  in  which  they  were  carry- 
ing him,  and  forbade  them  to  defend  him.  Then  un- 
dauntedly stretching  out  his  neck,  he  bade  his  execution- 
ers do  their  pleasure  ;  happy  to  escape  from  so  much 
misery,  to  the  immortahty  he  had  always  believed  in. 
This  occurred  when  he  was  just  entering  his  sixty-fourth 
year. 

This  rapid  sketch  of  the  transactions  of  Cicero's 
times,  will,  it  is  hoped,  not  be  deemed  impertinent,  but 
may  rather  be  considered  as  assisting  the  general  reader 
to  form  an  adequate  estimate  of  the  great  object  which 
Cicero  had  in  view,  when  he  drew  up  this  celebrated 
treatise,  which  was  to  revive  the  veneration  of  the  ! 
Roman  people  for  their  ancient  iastitutions,  now  in  dan-  V 
ger  from  the  machinations  of  lawless  men,  at  the  head  of 
whom  was  Caesar,  who  denying  in  the  senate  a  future 
existence,  expressed  his  contempt  for  all  religion.     But  / 


20  iNTRODtJCTlON. 

it  has  been  objected  to  Cicero  that  he  was  insincerci 
and  that  he  called  upon  his  countrymen  to  venerate  what 
was  often  the  object  of  his  ridicule.  The  leading.gien 
of  Rome  who  formed  the  sacerdotal  order,  from  the 
earliest  periods  and  under  all  circumstances  maintained 
their  influence  over  the  people,  chiefly  by  that  religion 
they  had  been  brought  up  in  the  veneration  of,  £uid 
especially  by  the  observance  of  auspices.  But  in  time 
the  credulity  of  the  Romans  began  to  relax.  Men  like 
Cicero  had  for  their  religion  the  glorious  doctrine  of  the 
immortality  of  the  soul,  and  a  great  majority  of  his  en- 
lightened equals  no  doubt  entertained  his  opinions. 
Others,  and  among  them  was  his  brother  Quintus,  from 
various  motives,  as  has  always  been  the  case  in  the 
history  of  superstitions,  persevered  in  the  prejudices 
they  had  received  from  education.  Prejudices  acquired 
in  infancy  from  our  earhest  and  dearest  protectors,  and 
to  relinquish  which,  seems  to  require  the  relinquishment 
of  all  reverence  for  those  we  most  venerate.  When 
therefore  Cicero  ridicules  the  religious  observances  of 
his  times,  it  is  to  enlightened  men  he  sometimes  ad- 
dresses himself ;  just  as  men  have  in  all  times  laughed' 
at  absurdities  they  do  not  care  publicly  to  assail :  and 
at  other  times  he  may  have  used  his  ridicule  to  expose 
the  most  stupid  superstitions  indiscriminately  to  all^ 
When  in  bis  Republic  ho    praises  the  iostitutioQ  oP 


r 


INTRODUCTION.  21 


auspices,  however  he  may  be  charged  with  inconsis- 
tency, it  was  done  from  great  and  pubhc  motives,  and 
not  from  selfish  ones.  Ther^  is  no  hypocrisy  in  this 
conduct,  as  we  understand  the  word  ;  and  if  we  examine 
the  whole  bearing  of  Cicero's  life,  the  policy  which  the 
circumstances  of  it,  sometimes  obliged  him  to,  will  not 
offend  liberal  minds.  In  estimating  therefore  the 
character  of  Cicero,  it  is  well  to  remember  Dlr.  Middle- 
ton's  remark  in  his  preface  *'  and  in  every  thing  es- 
pecially that  relates  to  Cicero,  I  would  recommend  the 
reader  to  contemplate  the  whole  character,  before  he 
thinks  himself  quaUfied  to  judge  of  its  separate  parts,  on 
which  the  whole  will  always  be  found  the  surest  com- 
ment." 

The  first  book  is  the  most  complete  of  the  whole  six  : 
the  opening  however  is  imperfect.  Cicero  in  his  own 
person  enters  into  a  discussion  whether  governments 
should  be  administered  by  contemplative  philosophers, 
or  by  active  practical  men.  He  recapitulates  the  ar- 
guments on  both  sides  of  the  question,  often  discussed 
by  the  ancients,  and  decides  the  question  in  consonance 
with  those  feelings  which  had  governed  his  very  active 
?ife.  The  eloquence  and  force  of  some  of  the  passages 
are  inimitable.  They  will  be  applicable  to  all  times  as 
long  as  civil  government  exists  among  men.  But  in 
this  country  where  the  experiment  of  a  popular  govern- 


22  INTRODUCTIOl^ 

ment  is  trying  upon  so  comprehensive  a  scale,  the  gran- 
deur of  the  sentiments  deserves  the  attention  of  every 
man.  As  where  he  states  as  an  argument  of  those  who 
shun  active  occupations,  that  it  is  dangerous  to  meddle 
with  public  affairs  in  turbulent  times,  and  disgraceful  to 
associate  with  the  low  and  disreputable  men  who  are 
conspicuous  at  those  periods  ;  that  it  is  vain  to  hope  to 
restrain  the  mad  violence  of  the  vulgar,  or  to  withdraw 
from  such  a  contest  without  injury  ;  *'  As  if,"  he  adds 
with  a  generous  enthusiasm,  "  there  could  be  a  more 
just  cause  for  good  and  firm  men,  endowed  with  noble 
minds,  then  to  stand  forth  in  aid  of  their  country,  than 
that  they  may  not  be  subject  to  bad  men;  nor  suffer  the 
republic  to  be  lacerated  by  them,  before  the  desire  of 
saving  it  may  come  too  late." 

After  disposing  of  this  question,  he  proceeds  with 
great  address  to  open  the  plan  of  his  work,  and  presents 
in  all  the  beautiful  simplicity  of  the  times,  Scipio,  his 
friend  Laelius,  with  some  of  their  most  accomplished 
coteraporaries,  seated,  not  in  the  gorgeous  saloon  of  a 
Lucullus  or  Crassus,  but  in  the  sunny  part,  because  it 
was  the  winter  season,  of  the  lawn  of  Scipio's  country 
place  ;  where  they  had  convened  to  pass  the  Latin  holi- 
days in  discussing  philosophical  questions.  Here,  upon 
an  inquiry  being  instituted  into  the  cause  of  two  suns 
reported   to  have  been  seen  in  the  heavens,  occasion  is 


INTRODUCTION.  23^ 

found  to  introduce  in  a  very  pleasing  manner,  the  astro- 
iXQmical  knowledge  of  the  day-,-which  Cicero  was  well 
versed  in.     Scipio  is  made  here  to  deliver  a  magnificent 
passage,  beginning  at  the   17th  section.     "Who  can 
perceive  any  grandeur  in   human  affairs,"  &c.*     This 
inquiry  about  celestial  phenomena,  which  appeared  so 
foreign  to  a  philosophical  investigation  on  the  principles 
of  government,   is  admirably   closed  and  without  the 
abruptness  being  perceived,  by  Lselius  asking  how  it 
can  interest  him  that  Scipio  should  be  solicitous  about 
the  two  suns,  "  when  he  does  not  inquire  the  cause  why 
two  senates,  and  almost  two  people  exist  in  one  repub- 
lic."    At  the  general  request  Scipio  consents  to  deliver 
his  opinion  of  government.     He  defines  a  republic  to  be 
the  "  public   thing,"  or  common  interest  of  all  :  and 
he  shews  most  satisfactorily  that  human  beings  congre- 
gate not  on  account  of  their  weakness,  but  that  they  are 
led  thereto  by  the  social  principle,  which  is  innate  in 
man,  and  leads  him  even  in  the  midst  of  the  greatest 
abundance  to  seek  his  fellow.     He  successively  exa- 
mines the  dospotic,  the   aristocratic,  and   democratic 
forms  of  government  :  their  advantages  and  disadvan- 
tages ;  and  concludes  that  a  fourth  kind  of  government, 
moderated  and  compounded  from  those  three  is  most  to^ 

*  "  Quid  porro  aut  prxclarum  putet  in  rebus  humanis."     Lib.  1. 
XTii. 


24  INTRODUCTION. 

be  approved.  This  is  subsequently  recurred  to  and  en- 
larged upon.  Many  persons  will  be  surprised  that  the 
balanced  representative  form  of  government,  which  has 
but  in  modern  times  received  the  sanction  of  the  wisest 
nations,  should  have  been  shadowed  forth  in  an  appa- 
rently speculative  opinion,  two  thousand  years  ago. 
We  must  however  remember,  that  in  the  numerous  small 
independent  states  of  Greece ;  their  various  forms  of 
government,  the  tyranny  of  their  kings,  the  oppression 
of  the  aristocracies,  and  the  violence  of  the  people,  had 
produced  many  discussions  among  their  writers.  Few 
of  these  have  come  down  to  us.  Yet  Cicero  was  famihar 
with  them,  and  it  is  evident  that  his  plan  of  a  mixed 
government  was  drawn  from  this  source.  There  is 
a  passage  to  this  effect  preserved  in  the  Anthology  of 
Stobseus,  of  Hyppodamus.  He  says  thatjyvaltv,  which 
*®  ^  C0|^  of  divinity,  is  insufficient,  on  account  of  the 
degeneracy  of  human  nature.  That  it  must  be  limited 
by  an  aristocracy,  where  the  principle  of  emulation  leads 
men  to  excel  each  other :  and  that  the  citizen  also 
should  be  admitted  into  that  mixed  government  as  of 
right :  but  cautiously,  as  the  people  are  apt  to  fall  into 
disorders.  These  opinions  also  flattered  the  Romans, 
for  in  fact  it  was  substantially  their  own  form  of  govern- 
ment, which  consisted  of  consuls,  patricians,  and  the 
people  and  their  tribunes. 


INTRODUCTION.  25 

Scipio  in  the  43d  section,  gives  an  eloquent  passage 
trom  Plato,  where  the  excesses  of  the  multitude  are 
painted  in  the  strongest  language ;  a  passage  which 
might  well  have  been  inspired  by  the  French  revolu- 

\JtlOB, 

Scipio  opens  the  second  book  with  the  origin  of  the 
Roman  people,  adopting  the  received  opinions  con- 
cerning the  early  history  of  Rome,  of  Romulus,  and 
the  succeeding  kings.  These  opinions  have  of  late, 
been  much  controverted.  Niebuhr  whose  erudition  ap- 
pears to  be  inimitable,  whatever  success  he  may  be 
thought  to  have  had  in  shaking  them,  has  substitued  no- 
thing satisfactory  in  their  place,  at  least  as  far  as '  we 
may  gather  from  his  first  volume.  One  thing  may  be 
safely  asserted,  that  Cicero  might  well  present  in  his 
repubhc,  those  traditions  of  the  times,  ns  the  real  his- 
tory of  his  country,  because  the  Roman  people  werfe 
acquainted  with  no  other.  He  could  not  call  upon 
them  to  venerate  the  founders  of  Rome  and  their  insti- 
tutions, and  tell  them  at  the  same  time  they  had  never 
existed.  Niebuhr  himself  strengthens  the  account 
given  at  section  19,  Book  II.,  of  the  Greek  descent  of 
the  first  Tarquin,  by  observing  that  the  clay  vases  made 
at  Tarquinii  were  painted,  and  resembled  in  colour 
and  drawing  some  discovered  near  Corinth.  He  says 
they  are  found  only  in  the  district  of  Tarquinii,  an(T 
4 


26  INTRODUCTION* 

that  the  circumstance  implies  a  peculiar  intercourse 
between  Corinth  and  Tarquinii. 

In  the  22d  section  of  the  2d  Book,  is  another  pas- 
sage with  which  Niebuhr  is  not  satisfied,  and  which 
even  Professor  Mai  terms  "  vexatissimum  locum.'* 
Cicero  says  the  Roman  people  were  distributed  by  Ser- 
vius  into  six  classes,  whose  entire  elective  force  was 
one  hundred  and  ninety-three  centuries.  To  give  the 
landed  proprietors  who  were  rated  in  the  first  class, 
a  majority  of  this  number,  or  ninety-seven  votes,  three 
centuries  of  horse  with  six  suffrages,  meaning  those  in- 
scribed in  the  great  census  or  register,  in  contradistinc- 
tion to  the  horsemen  set  apart  from  the  mass  of  the 
whole  people  ;  the  century  of  carpenters,  and  the  first 
class,  constituted  together  eighty- nine  centuries. 
Eiflfht  more  centuries  taken  from  the  other  five  classes 
and  added  to  this  number,  made  ninety-seven,  being  a 
majority  of  one  over  ninety-six,  and  thus  in  Cicero's 
words  "  Confecta  est  vis,  populi  universa."  The  un- 
wearied erudition  of  Niebuhr,  to  which  great  deference 
is  due,  is  not  satisfied  with  the  simplicity  of  this  state- 
ment of  the  Roman  Constitution,  but  assails  it  with  an 
unusual  bitterness  of  critical  spirit.  He  supposes  tjtie 
passage  from  its  genuine  state  to  have  been  corrupted 
by  successive  transcribers  and  commentators,  to  the 
order  in  ^vhich  Professor  Mai  has  thought  proper  to 


<i^    'T         "*    v^ 


INTRODUCTION.  2*7 

give  it  to  the  public,  and  that  in  its  original  state  it 
stood  thus.  "  Nunc  rationem  videtis  esse  talem  ut 
prima  classis,  addita  centuria  quae  ad  summum  usum 
urbis  fabris  tignariis  est  data  :  LXXXI  centurias  ha- 
beat  ;  quibus  ex  CXIV  centuriis,  tot  enim  reliqua) 
sunt,equitum  centuriae  cum  sex  suffragiis  solse  si  acces- 
serunt,"  &c. 

"  Now  you  will  perceive  the  plan  was  such,  that  the 
first  class,  a  century  being  added  from  the  carpenters 
on  account  of  their  great  utility  to  the  city,  consisted  of 
eighty-one  centuries  ;  to  which  if  from  the  one  hundred 
and  fourteen  centuries,  for  so  many  remain,  only  the 
centuries  of  horse  with  six  suffrages  are  added,"  &c. 
I  forbear  to  add  his  very  curious  reasons  for  this  pro- 
posed restoration,  and  which,  not  to  be  deemed  extra- 
vagant, requires  to  be  judged  by  those  familiar  with  the 
emendations  of  ancient  MSS.  It  will  be  perceived, 
however,  that  he  makes  the  whole  number  of  centuries 
to  consist  of  one  hundred  and  ninety-live  ;  and  that  he 
gives  the  landed  proprietors  a  majority  of  ninety-nine 
over  the  ninety-six  centuries  belonging  to  the  other  five 
classes,  which  appears  superfluous  in  a  system  which 
aimed  at  the  appearance  of  moderation,  "  ne  superbum 
esset."  Substantially  the  system  appears  to  have  been 
this.  The  Roman  people  were  distributed  into  six 
i-lasses,  having  one  hundred  and  ninety-three  centuries 


>,'» 


28  II^ROPUCTION. 

or  votes.  The  first  class  consisting  of  men  of.  rank 
and  property,  with  the  centuries  of  horse,  had  ninety- 
six  votes  ;  leaving  ninety-seven  votes  to  the  other  five 
classes.  In  order,  however,  to  give  the  ascendancy  to 
the  first  class  in  the  least  offensive  way,  the  century  of 
blacksmiths  and  carpenters  was  added  to  the  first  class, 
under  pretence  of  their  great  utility  to  the  city ;  but 
really  because  they  were  dependent  upon  the  first  class 
and  the  cavalry  for  employment,  and  could  be  relied 
upon.  In  this  manner  the  first  class  secured  a  majority 
of  ninety-seyea  votes.  The  second  bc)ok  closes  with 
a  declaration  from  Scipio,  that  unless  the  most  perfbct 
justice  is  observed,  no  government  can  prosper. 

The  t^lf\i};^  book  opens  with  a  philosophical  analysis 
of  the  faculties  of  man,  introductory  to  the  great  prin- 
ciple "Bf  the  immutable^'tiafujK^of  jusUce,  which  it  ap- 
pears was  fully  discussed,  in  this  book,  of  which  so 
small  a  portion  is  preserved.  .  A  splendid  picture  is 
drawn  in  the  second  section  of  aij  accomplished  states- 
man, such  as  Cicero  himself  had  aimed  to  be,  and 
which  from  a  passage  in  one  of  his  letters  to  Atticus, 
appears  to  have  been  farther  elaborated  in  the  sixth 
book.  It  relates  to  a  triumph  about  which  he  felt  some 
anxiety  after  his  government  of  Cilicia.  "  If  this  idea 
of  a  triumph  which  even  you  approve,  had  not  been 
infused  into  me,  you  would  not  have  had  to  look  far  for 


V. 


INTRODUCTION.  ^  29 

the  perfect  citizen  described  in  the  sixth  book."*  Phi- 
lus  is  called  upon  to  defend  the  cause  of  injustice  after 
the  manner  of  Carneades  the  Greek  sophist.  The  pow- 
erful passage  contained  in  the  seventeenth  section  is  de- 
livered by  him.  It  was  reserved  for  LaeHus  to  close  the 
discussion  as  the  advocate  of  justice.  Scarce  any  part 
of  his  discourse  is  preserved.  Some  fragments  have, 
however,  been  collected  by  Professor  Mai,  preserved 
by  Nonius  the  Philologist,  and  by  Lactantius.  In 
•the  one,  Laelius  is  made  to  declare,  that  the  Roman 
youth  ought  not  to  be  permitted  to  listen  to  Carneades, 
who  if  he  thought  as  he  spoke,  was  a  bad  man  ;  and  if 
he  was  not,  as  he  preferred  to  believe,  his  discourse 
was  nevertheless  detestable.  One  of  the  passages 
from  Lanctantius  is  that  well  known  exposition  of  eter-  j 
nal  right,  or  natural  law  of  justice  of  which  conscience 
is  the  voice.  \ 

"  There  is  indeed  a  law,  right  reason,  which  is  in  ac- 
cordance with  nature ;  existing  in  all,  unchangeable, 
eternal.  Commanding  us  to  do  what  is  right,  forbid-  " 
ding  us  to  do  what  is  wrong.  It  has  dominion  over 
good  men,  but  possesses  no  influence  over  bad  ones. 
No  other  law  can  be  substituted  for  it,  no  part  of  it  can 
be  taken  away,  nor  can  it  be  abrogated  altogether. 
Neither  the  people  or  the  senate  can  absolve  tr,s  from 

*  Let.  to  Att.  vii.  \% 
4* 


30  INTRODUCTION. 


it.   It 


\ 


wants  no  commentator  or  interpreter.     It  is  not 
I  one  thing  at  Rome,  and  another  thing  at  Athens :  one 
I  thing  to-day,  and  another  thing  to-morrow ;  but  it  is  a 
|*4gy  eternal  and  immutable  for  all  nations  and  for  all » 
I  i  time.     Gqd^^tbe  sole?  Ruler,  and  universal  Lord,  has 
framed  end  proclaimed  this  law.     He  who  does  not 
obey  it,  renounces  himself,  and  is  false  to  his  own  na.-  , 
'     ture  :  he  brings  upon  himself  the  direst  tortures,  evefi 
when  he  escapes  human  punishments."* 

The  fourtbjbook  of  which  a  mere  fragment  is  pre-, 
served,  appears  to  have  treated  of  domestic  mannefji, 
the  education  of  youth,  and  of  Roman  life,  public  and 
private.  We  have  lost  here  many  fine  pictures\^of  the 
simpUcity  of  Roman  manners,  at  that  flourishing  period 
of  the  republic,  as  well  as  of  the  progress  of  luxury, 
which  was  not  inconsiderable.  A  fragment  of  this 
book  is  preserved  in  Nonius,  where  Scipio  opposes  the 
collection  of  a  revenue,  necessary  perhaps  to  make 
good  those  deficiencies  which  extravagance  had  produ-* 
ced.  "  Ndlo  enim  eundem  populum  imperatorem  et 
portitorem  esse  terrarum.  Optimum  autem  et  in  priva- 
tis  familiis  et  in  republica  vectigal  duco  esse  parsimo- 
niam."  "  I  am  not  willing  that  the  same  people  should 
be  the  sovereigns  and  the  toll-gatherers  of  the  world. 

*  Lact.  Inst.  vi.  S. 


INTRODUCTION.  31- 

I  look  upon  economy  to  be  the  best  revenue  for  the  re- 
public, and  for  private  individuals." 

The  fiiihilQ^k  is  also  a  mere  fragment.  St.  Augustin 
has  preserved  some  notices  of  it,  from  which  it  appears 
that  it  treated  very  much  of  the  ancient  Roman  institu- 
Jiojljs,  with  a  view  to  show  the  degeneracy  of  the  times 
in  which  Cicero  wrote.  In  the  fifth  section  of  this 
book,  he  sneaks  of  the  comfortable  enjoyment  of  life 
dependii^^Bpn  legal  marriages  and  lawful  children ;, 
from  wlHIPr  perhaps  we  may  gather  the  obligation 
which  the  dissolute  manners  of  the  times  had  laid  him 
under,  of  asserting  the  value  of  these  ties,  as  well  as 
his  own  veneration  for  them.  j} 

Of  the  ^sixth  book  no  part  whatever  has  come  down 
to  us  with  this  MSS  :  but  the  important  fragment  on  a 
future  state  preserved  in  Macrobius,  warrants  our  sup- 
posing that  he  was  naturally  led  in  a  treatise  so  highly 
philosophical,  to  pass  from  the  consideration  of  human 
morals,  to  the  great  object  which  moral  conduct  has  in 
view  :  the  resisting  of  human  weakness,  for  the  sake  of 
fitting  the  immortal  part  of  our  nature  for  a  higher  con- 
dition of  being.  The  dream  of  Scipio,  encumbered  as 
it  is  by  some  of  the  pedantry  of  the  schools,  is  a  pro- 
duction of  the  highest  order,  upon  this  most  sublime  of 
all  subjects.  ^ 


/ 


# 


CICERO'S  REPUBLIC. 


BOOK  I. 


I.  Foi^Miout  the  strong  feeling  of  patriotism,  nei- 
ther had  (jW)ueUus,  Aulus  Atilius  or  L.  Metellus  freed 
us  from  the  terror  of  Carthage  ;  or  the  two  Scipios  ex- 
tinguished with  their  blood  the  rising  flame  of  the  second 
punic  war.  Quintus  Maximus  would  not  have  weak- 
ened, nor  M.  Marcellus  have  crushed  the  one  which  was 
springing  up  with  still  greater  strength  :  or  P.  Africa- 
nus  turning  it  from  the  gates  of  this  city,  have  borne  it 
amid  tlie  walls  of  our  enemies.  Yet  it  was  not  thought 
unbecoming  in  M.  Cato,  an  unknown  and  a  new  man, 
by  whom  all  of  us  who  emulate  his  course  are  led  as  a 
bright  example  of  industry  and  virtue,  to  enjoy  the  re- 
pose of  Tusculum,  that  healthy  and  convenient  situa- 
tion. That  insane  man,  however,  as  some  have  con- 
sidered him,  preferred  when  urged  by  no  necessity,  to 
contend  amid  those  waves  and  tempests  to  extreme  old 
age  ;  rather  than  pass  his  days  in  the  most  agreeable 
manner,  amid  so  much  ease  and  tranquillity.  Men  with- 
out number  I  omit,  each  of  whom  were  benefactors  to 
the  State,  and  who  are  not  far  removed  from  the  remem- 
])rance  of  this  generation.     I  forbear  to  commemorate 


34  CICERO'S  REPUBLIC. 

them,  lest  any  one  should  reproach  me  with  neglecting 
to  speak  of  himself  or  his  immediate  friends.  This  one 
truth  I  would  mark,  that  nature  has  so  strongly  im- 
planted in  man  the  necessity,  of.  virtue,  and  so  powerful 
an  inclination  to  defend  the  common  welfare,  that  this 
principle  overcomes  all  the  blandishments  of  voluptuous- 
ness and  ease. 

II.  Yet  to  possess  virtue,  like  some  art,  without 
exercising  it,  is  insufficient.  Art  indeed,  when  not  ef- 
fective, is  still  comprehended  in  science.  J/^  efficacy 
of  all  virtue  consists  in  its  use.  Its  greal^Knd  is  the 
government  of  states,  and  the  perfection  not  in  words 
but  in  deeds,  of  those  very  things  which  are  taught  in  the 
halls.  For  nothing  is  propounded  by  philosophers, 
concerning  what  is  esteemed  to  be  just  and  proper,  that 
is  not  confirmed  and  assured  by  those  who  have  legisla- 
ted for  states.  For  from  whence  springs  piety,  or  from 
whom  religion 3  Whence  the  law,  either  of  nations,  or 
that  which  is -called  civil?  Whence  justice,  faith, 
equity?  WTience  modesty,  continence,  the  dread  ot" 
turpitude,  the  love  of  praise  and  esteem  t  Whence 
fortitude  in  trouble  and  dangers  ?  From  those  who 
having  laid  a  foundation  for  these  things  in  early  edu- 
cation, have  strengthened  some  of  them  by  the  influence 
of  manners,  and  sanctioned  others  by  the  influence  ot 
laws.  Of  Xenocrates,  one  of  the  noblest  of  philoso- 
phers, it  is  said,  that  when  he  was  asked  what  his  disci- 
ples learnt  of  him,  he  replied  "  to  do  that  of  their  own 
choice,  which  the  laws  enjoined  them  to  do,"  therefore 
the  citizen  who  obliges  every  one  by  the  authority  and 
fear  of  the  law  to  do  that,  which  philosophers  by  reason- 


BOOK  I. 


35 


ing,  with  difficulty  persuade  a  few  to  do,  is  to  be  pre- 
ferred to  those  learned  men  who  only  dispute  about 
these  things.  For  which  of  their  orations,  however  ex- 
quisite, can  be  compared  in  value  to  a  well  constituted 
state,  to  public  right  and  to  morals.  Truly  as  great 
and  powerful  cities,  as  Ennius  says,  are  as  I  think,  to 
be  preferred  to  villages  and  castles  ;  so  those  who 
stand  pre-eminent  in  those  cities,  in  authority  and 
counsel,  are  to  be  esteemed  far  before  those  in  wisdom, 
who  are  altogether  ignorant  of  the  conduct  of  public 
affairs.  And  since  we  are  chiefly  urged  by  a  desire  to 
increase  the  possessions  of  the  human  race,  and  seek  by 
our  counsels  and  labours,  to  surround  the  hfe  of  man 
with  gratification  and  security,  and  are  incited  by  the 
instincts  of  nature  to  these  enjoyments  ;  let  us  hold  the 
course  which  was  always  that  of  the  best  men  :  nor  at- 
tend to  those  signals  which  speculative  philosophers 
make  from  their  retirement,  to  allure  back  those  who 
are  already  far  advanced. 

III.  Against  these  reasons  so  certain  and  so  clear, 
it  is  urged  by  those  who  are  opposed  to  us  :  first,  the 
labour  to  be  undergone  in  preserving  the  public  wel- 
fare ;  a  slight  impediment  to  the  zealous  and  industrious, 
not  alone  in  matters  of  such  high  import,  but  in  inferior 
things :  whether  in  studies  or  in  official  stations ;  and 
to  be  despised  even  in  affairs  of  business.  To  this  they 
add  the  dangers  to  which  life  is  exposed,  and  the  dread 
of  death,  which  brave  m^n  scorn  ;  being  wont  to  view  it 
as  more  wretched  to  waste  away  by  infirmity  and  old  age, 
than  to  seize  an  occasion  to  devote  that  life  to  the  ad- 
vantage of  their  country,  which  one  day  must  be  render- 


3G  CICERO's  REPUBLIC. 

ed  to  nature.  It  is  here  however  they  deem  themselves; 
most  successful  and  eloquent,  when  they  bring  forward 
the  calamities  of  eminent  men,  and  the  injuries  heaped 
upon  them  by  their  ungrateful  countrymen.  Here 
come  the  instances  in  Grecian  history.  Miltiades,  the 
conqueror  and  subduer  of  the  Persians,  with  those 
wounds  yet  streaming,  which  he  received  in  front,  in 
the  height  of  victory  :  preserved  from  the  weapons  of 
the  enemy,  to  waste  away  his  life  in  the  chains  of  his 
countrymen.  And  Themistocles  proscribed  and  driven 
from  the  country  he  had  freed,  flying,  not  to  the  har- 
bours of  that  Greece  he  had  preserved,  but  to  the  barba- 
rous shores  he  had  harrassed.  Nor  indeed  are  in- 
stances wanting  among  the  Athenians  of  levity  and 
cruelty  towards  great  numbers  of  their  citizens;  in- 
stances which  springing  up  repeatedly  among  them,  are 
said  also  to  have  abounded  too  conspicuously  in  our 
city.  For  either  the  exile  of  Camiljus,  the  misfortune 
of  Ahala,  the  ill  will  towards  Nasica,  or  the  expulsion 
of  Lenas,  or  the  condemnation  of  Opimus  is  remem- 
bered :  or  the  flight  of  Metellus,  the  sad  overthrow  of 
C.  Marius,  the  cutting  off*  of  the  most  eminent  citizens, 
or  the  destruction  of  many  of  them,  which  soon  after 
followed.  Nor  indeed  is  my  name  forgotten.  And  I 
judge  that  deeming  themselves  to  owe  both  life  and 
ease  to  my  peril  and  counsel,  they  have  a  more  deep 
and  tender  remembrance  of  me.  But  it  is  not  easy  to 
explain  how  they  who  •cross  the  seas  for  the  sake  of 
observing  or  describing    *     *    * 

[Two  pages  wanting.]  ^  , 


I 


BOOK  I.  37 

lY.  -^  *  *  *  At  the  expiration  of  my 
consulship,  when  in  the  assembly  of  the  Roman  people, 
I  swore  that  the  republic  had  been  saved  by  my  exer- 
tions, which  they  confirmed  by  universal  acclamation,  I 
was  requited  for  the  cares  and  vexations  of  every  in- 
jury. Albeit  my  reverses  had  more  honour  than  pain 
attached  to  them,  and  less  disquietude  than  glory. 
Greater  was  my  pleasure  at  receiving  the  approbation 
of  good  men,  than  my  regret  at  observing  the  satisfac- 
tion of  the  bad.  But  had  it  happened  otherwise,  as  I 
said,  what  complaint  could  I  make?  Nothing  unfore- 
seen could  have  occurred,  nor  more  grievous  than  I 
might  have  expected  for  so  many  of  my  deeds.  For  I 
was  one  who  could  well  have  gathered  greater  fruits 
from  ease  than  others,  on  account  of  the  agreeable  vari- 
ety of  the  studies  I  had  pursued  from  my  childhood ; 
and  if  any  disaster  had  overtaken  the  republic,  I  need 
not  have  sustained  a  greater  share  of  it,  but  have  di- 
vided it  equally  with  the  rest.  I  hesitated  not  to  oppose 
myself  to  those  stormy  tempests,  and  almost  raging 
waves,  for  the  sake  of  preserving  my  fellow  citizens, 
and  of  accomplishing  at  my  own  risk  the  common 
safety  of  all.  For  our  country  has  not  produced  us,  or 
educated  us  under  a  law,  that  she  is  entitled  to  no  sup- 
port on  our  part,  lending  herself  as  it  were  to  our  con- 
venience only  ;  furnishing  a  secure  refuge,*  and  a  tran- 
quil and  peaceful  asylum  to  our  indolence  :  but  rather 
holds  as  pledges  to  her,  to  be  employed  for  her  benefit, 
the  many  and  great  faculties  of  our  mind,  genius,  and 
reason  ;  and  only  permits  us  to  appropriate  to  our  pri- 
vate purposes,  that  portion  of  them,  of  which  she  stands' 
in  no  need.  -— ^-— ^»-^. 

5 


38  ClCERO's  REPUBLIC. 

V.  The  pretences  which  are  urged  for  the  enjoy- 
ment of  indolence  are  not  to  be  hstened  to.  As 
when  it  is  stated  that  the  public  affairs  are  meddled 
with  by  men  worthy  of  no  confidence,  with  whom  it  ia 
disgraceful  to  associate  ;  yet  to  contend  against  whom 
is  a  miserable  and  dangerous  effort,  especially  when  the 
multitude  is  excited.  For  which  reason  a  prudent  man 
ought  not  to  take  the  reins,  when  he  is  not  able  to  re- 
strain the  mad  and  untameable  violence  of  the  vulgar  : 
or  a  generous  man  expose  himself  to  the  lashes  of 
contumely  in  a  strife  with  low  and  outrageous  adversa- 
ries :  or  a  wise  man  hope  to  withdraw  from  such  a  con- 

-  iest  without  injury.  As  if  there  could  well  be  a  more 
j  just  cause  for  good  and  firm  men,  endowed  with  noble 
»  minds,  to  stand  forth  in  aid  of  their  country,  than  that 
'  they  may  not  be  subject  to  bad  men  ;  nor  suffer  the  re- 
public to  be  lacerated  by  them,  before  the  desire  of  sa- 
ving it  may  come  too  late. 

VI.  But  who  can  approve  of  their  exception,  that  a 
wise  man  ought  not  to  take  upon  him  any  part  of  the 
public  affairs,  unless  an  occasion  of  extraordinary  need 
should  drive  him  to  it  ]  as  if  indeed  a  greater  necessity 
could  ever  have  happened  to  any  one,  than  occurred  to 
myself.  How  could  I  have  been  useful  then,  had  I 
not  been  consul?  and  how  could  I  have  bee^n  con- 
suli  had  I  not  pursued  that  course  of  life  from  my 
youth,  which  belonging  to  the  equestrian  rank,  in 
which  I  was  born,  enabled  me  to  attain  the  first  honours 
of  the  state  1  No  man  therefore  can  assume  at  plea- 
sure the  ability  of  aiding  in  the  public  service,  however 
urgent  the  danger  may  be,  unless  he  stands  in  that  rela- 


r 


BOOK  I.  39--->. 

tion  to  his  country,  which  fits  him  for  the   occasion.        I 
And  it  appears  to  me  most  marvellous,  that  in  the  dis-        i, 
course  of  learned   men,  they  who  declare  themselves 
unable  to  steer  in  a  calm  sea,  because  they  have  never      , 
been  taught,  nor  have  ever  studied  the  subject,  talk  of 
taking  the  helm  in  the  midst  of  the  greatest  storms. 
For  these  very  men  openly  declare,  and  pride  themselves 
greatly  upon  it,  that  they  have  never  studied  or  taught 
the  mode  of  establishing  or  protecting  the  public  inte- 
rest ;  which  they  think  the  exclusive  province,  not  of 
learned  and  erudite  men,^  but  of  those  who  are  practised 
in  these  matters.     What  consistency  is  there  then  in 
promising  to  aid  the  republic  in  times  of  peril,  when 
they  are  iacapjable  of  the  easier  task  of  directing  it  in  the 
calmest  moments  ?    And  although,  in  truth,  the  philoso- 
pher is  not  wont  of  his  own  accord,  to  consider  the 
details  of  state  affairs,  unless  called  upon  by  the  times 
to  do  it,  when  indeed  he  will  not  decline  what  duty  im- 
poses on  him  ;  nevertheless,  I  judge  the  knowledge  of 
state  affairs  is  least  to  be  neglected  by  a  wise  man  ;  that 
every  thing  may  be  familiar  to  him,  for  he  cannot  tell 
the  moment,  when  it  may  be  necessary  for  him  to  avail 
himself  of  his  knowledge. 

VII.  These  things  I  have  somewhat  enlarged  upon, 
because  the  discussion  proposed  and  undertaken  by 
nae  in  this  work,  was  on  government :  and  in  order  to 
prevent  its  being  without  effect,  it  was  necessary  in  the 
first  instance,  to  remove  every  doubt  as  to  the  duty  oft""'^ 
engaging  in  the  pubhc  service.  Nevertheless  if  there  » 
are  any  who  are  governed  by  the  opinions  of  philoso- 
phers, let  them  turn  their  attention  for  a  while,  and  lis- 


4#  CICEEld's  REPUBLIC. 

ten  to  those  who  enjoy  a  proud  pre-eminence  among 
learned  men,  even  when  they  have  not  borne  any  charge 
in  the  republic ;  still  whom  I  deem  from  the  extent  of 
their  studies,  and  their  writings  on  government,  to  have 
been  invested  with  functions  appertaining  to  the  public 
interest.  But  those  seven,  whom  the  Greeks  call  wise, 
I  perceive  have  almost  all  been  greatly  engaged  in  pub- 
lic affairs.  For  there  is  no  one  thing  in  which  human 
.worth  is  more  nearly  allied  to  the  power  of  the  gods, 
than  to  found  new  states,  or  to  preserve  those  already 
founded. 

VIII.  Concerning  which  matters,  since  it  hath  hap- 
pened to  me,  to  be  deemed  something  worthy  of  me- 
mory in  my  administration  of  public  affairs,  and  to  pos- 
sess some  talent  for  unfolding  them ;  not  only  in  prac- 
tice, but  being  versed  too  in  the  art  of  speaking  and 
teaching  :  while  of  those  before  me,  some  were  perfect 
in  debate,  yet  unknown  by  their  deecjs ;  others  of  re- 
spectable parts  for  business,  without  the  talent  of  ora- 
tory. Still  it  is  not  my  intention  here  to  bring  forAvard 
any  new  system  invented  by  myself,  but  to  repeat  a  dis- 
cussion, that  took  place  at  a  certain  period  of  our  his- 
tory, among  our  most  illustrious  and  wise  men,  whidh 
was  related  to  me  a  long  time  ago  in  my  youth,  by  P. 
Rutilius  Rufus,  when  we  were  at  Smyrna  together :  in 
the  which  I  think  scarce  any  point  was  omitted  that  be- 
longs to  the  consideration  of  these  great  matters. 

IX.  When  P.  Africanus,  the  son  of  Paulus,  esta- 
.    blished  Latin  holidays  in  his  gardens,  during  the  con- 
sulate of  Tuditanus,  and  Aquilius ;  and  his  most  inti- 
mate friends  had  promised  to  visit  him  frequently  at 


BI^K  I.  41 

that  season.  On  the  morning  of  the  first  day,  Q.  Tu- 
bero,  the  eldest  son  of  his  sister,  came.  Pleased  with 
his  visit,  and  kindly  addressing  hirji  "  What !  Tubero," 
said  he,  *'  is  it  you  so  early  1  I  should  have  thought 
these  holidays  would  have  given  you  a  favourable  oppor- 
tunity of  pursuing  your  literary  inquiries."  "  Why  in 
truth,"  replied  he,  "  I  can  apply  all  my  leisure  to  my 
books,  for  they  are  always  disengaged.  But  to  find 
you  at  leisure,  is  very  remarkable  ;  especially  at  this  time 
so  critical  for  the  republic."  "  So  help  me  Hercules," 
said  Scipio,  "  however  you  find  me,  it  is  more  idle  in 
appearance  than  in  truth."  *'  You  must  now,"  said  Tu- 
bero, ''  relax  your  mind  a  little  also,  for  several  of  us 
have  determined  if  it  is  not  inconvenient  to  you,  to 
Spend  some  of  our  leisure  with  you."  "  With  all  my 
heart,"  repHed  Scipio,  "  provided  we  may  acquire  some 
information  thereby  on  philosophical  subjects." 

X.  "  Since  you  invite  and  encourage  me  to  it  your- 
self," said  Tubero,  *'  let  us  first  converse,  Africanus, 
before  the  others  come,  about  the  meaning  of  this  dou- 
ble sun  which  has  been  spoken  of  in  the  senate.  For 
those  who  declare  that  they  have  seen  two  suns,  are 
neither  few  in  number,  nor  insignificant  persons  :  so 
that  it  appears  to  be  of  less  importance  to  doubt  the 
fact,  than  to  inquire  into  the  cause  of  it."  *'  Would 
that  we  had  with  us  our  excellent  Panaetius,"  said  Sci- 
pio, "  who  among  other  objects  of  knowledge,  was  so 
diligent  an  inquirer  about  celestial  phenomena.  As  to 
myself,  Tubero — for  to  you  I  will  freely  declare  what  I 
.think ;  I  am  not  drawn  in  to  adopt  in  matters  of  this 
port,  the  opinions  of  our  friend,  who  pronounces  things 
5* 


42  CICERo's  REPUBLIC. 

which  are  scarcely  within  the  reach  of  conjecture,  io  he 
as  manifest,  as  if  he  beheld  them  with  his  eyes,  or  could 
lay  his  hands  upon  them*.  On  which  account  I  am  ac- 
customed to  consider  Socrates  much  wiser,  who  leaves 
the  consideration  of  such  things  aside,  and  teaches  that 
the  phenomena  about  which  nature  may  be  interrogated, 
are  either  beyond  the  force  of  human  reason,  or  irrele- 
vant to  the  conduct  of  human  afTairs."  "  I  know  not," 
rejoined  Tubero,  "  what  authority  there  is  for  the  fact, 
that  Socrates  rejected  all  discussion  upon  such  matters,' 
and  confined  himself  to  the  moral  conduct  of  human 
life.  For  what  author  is  to  be  commended. as  more  am- 
ple on  that  head  than  Plato  ;  in  whose  writings^  in  man)i 
places,  it  is  the  custom  of  Socrates  in  discussing  mo- 
rals, the  virtues,  and  finally  public  affairs ;  to  allude*, 
studiously  to  the  science  of  numbers,  to  geometry,  and 
to  harmony,  after  the^  t*ythagorean  mode.''  Scipio  an- 
swered, *^  these  things  are  as  you  say ;  but  I  dare  say 
you  have  heard,  Tubero,  that  Plato  after  "the  death  o& 
Socrates,  was  carried  by  the  love  of  knowledge  first; 
into  Egypt,  afterwards  into  Italy  and  Sicily,  that  ho 
might  obtain  an  insight  into  the  discoveries  of  Pytha- 
goras. That  he  associated  much  with  Archytas  the 
Tarentine,  and  with  Timseus  of  Locram.  That  he  ac- 
quired the  commentaries  of  Philolaus,  and  perceiving 
that  the  name  of  Pythagoras  was  at  that  time  in  great 
reputation  in  those  places,  he  dedicated  his  time  to  the 
disciples  of  Pythagoras  and  to  their  opinions.  But  as 
he  had  loved  Socrates  alone,  and  wished  to  make  all 
things  conducive  to  his  reputation,  he  interwove  very, 
skilfully  the  subtlety  and  humour  of  the  Socratic  style, 


BOOK  I.  43 

with  the  mysteries  of  Pythagoras,  and  with  many 
branches  of  the  arts." 

As  Scipio  ceased  to  speak,  he  suddenly  saw  L.  Furi- 
us  approaching,  and  as  soon  as  he  had  kindly  saluted 
him,  he  took  him  by  the  hand,  and  placed  him  on  his 
couch.  And  as  P.  Rutilius  the  accomplished  preserver 
of  this  conversation  appeared  at  the  same  time,  salu- 
ting him  also  in  the  same  manner,  he  bade  him  be  seated 
near  to  Tubero.  "What^re  you  engaged  in,"  said 
Furius  ;  "  hath  our  arrival  broken  in  upon  your  con- 
versation V  "  Not  in  the  least,"  replied  Africanus, 
"  for  it  is  precisely  about  matters,  such  as  Tubero  has 
just  been  introducing,  that  thou  art  wont  diHgently  to 
inquire  into,  and  to  investigate.  And  indeed  our  friend 
Rutilius  was  in  the  habit  occasionally  of  discussing 
things  of  this  kind  with  me,  when  we  were  under  the 
walls  of  Numantia."  ''  What  is  the  subject  you  have 
fallen  upon  1"  said  Philus.  "  These  two  suns,"  replied 
he,  "  respecting  which  I  am  desirous  of  hearing  your 
opinion." 

XII.  As  he  spoke  this,  a  boy  announced  that  Lseli- 
us  was  approaching,  having  already  left  his  house  ; 
upon  which  Scipio  having  dressed  himself,  left  hi.s 
chamber,  and  had  made  but  a  few  paces  in  the  portico, 
when  he  saluted  Laelius  who  was  approaching,  and  those 
who  were  with  him  :  Spurius  Mummius,  to  whom 
he  was  particularly  attached  ;  Fannius,  and  Quintus 
Scgevola,  sons-in-law  of  Lselius,  highly  gifted  young 
men  of  the  qusestorial  age.  And  having  welcomed 
ihem  all,  he  made  another  turn  on  the  portico,  placing 
licelius  in  the  middle ;  for  in  their  friendship  it  was  h 


44  Cicero's  republic. 

sort  of  law  betweon  them,  that  LaeHus  did  homage  to 
Scipio  as  to  a  god,  on  account  of  his  glorious  pre-emi- 
nence  in  war  ;  while  in  his  turn  Scipio,  in  private  life, 
paid  to  Laelius  all  the  reverence  due  to  a  parent,  on 
account  of  his  superior  years.  And  having  chatted  a 
little  together  in  various  places,  Scipio,  who  wds  very 
much  enlivened  and  gratified  with  their  arrival,  was 
pleased  to  have  them  seated  in  a  sunny  place  in  a  little 
meadow,  on  account  of  i||L  being  the  winter  season  ; 
which  as  they  were  about  to  do,  M.  ManiHus  came,  a 
prudent  and  agreeable  person,  and  very  dear  to  them 
all ;  who  being  cordially  saluted  by  Scipio  and  the  rest, 
took  his  seat  next  to  Lselius. 

XIII.  "  It  does  not  seem  to  me  necessary,"  said 
Fhilus  "  that  we  should  seek  another  subject  of  con- 
versation on  account  of  those  who  are  arrived,  but 
that  we  should  observe  more  accuracy,  and  say  some- 
thing worthy  of  their  ears."  "  What  subject  were 
you  upon,"  said  Laehus,  **  and  what  discussion  are  we 
come  to  be  present  at  ?"  *'  Scipio  was  inquiring  of 
rae,"  replied  Philus,  "  what  my  opinion  was  respecting 
the  fact  of  two  suns  having  been  seen." 

Laelius.  "  Why  truly  Philus,  is  there  no  longer  any 
thing  left  for  us  to  inquire  about,  touching  our  own  do- 
mestic affairs,  or  those  appertaining  to  the  republic, 
that  we  must  be  exploring  the  things  that  are  passing 
in  the  heavens  1"  "  Dost  thou  then  think,"  replied  he^ 
*'  that  it  does  not  concern  our  own  mansions,  to  know 
what  is  passing,  and  what  is  done  in  that  vast  one,  not 
the  one  surrounded  by  our  walls,  but  that  which  consti- 
tutes the  universe,  and  which  the  gods  have  given  to  as 


BOOK  I.  45 

for  a  domicile,  and  a  common  country  with  themselves. 
Especially  when  if  we  are  ignorant  of  them,  many  and 
very  high  matters  will  be  hidden  from  us.  As  to  my- 
self, the  contemplation  and  knowledge  of  these  things 
delight  me,  as  certainly  as  it  does  you,  I^oelius,  and  all 
who  are  eager  in  the  pursuit  of  knowledge."  *'  I  offer 
no  impediment,"  said  Laelius,  especially  at  this  holiday 
time  ;  but  shall  we  hear  any  thing,  or  are  we  come  too 
late  1" 

Philus.  "  Nothing  has  Wen  discussed  yet,  and  as 
the  subject  is  entire,  I  freely  concede  to  you,  Lselius, 
the  right  of  expressing  your  sentiments  first," 

Laelius.  "  Let  us  rather  hear  you,  unless  Manilius 
thinks,  that  some  decree  by  way  of  compromise  be- 
tween these  two  suns  may  be  adjusted ;  so  that  each 
may  keep  possession  of  its  own  part  of  the  firmament." 
*'  You  love  still  to  banter  that  science,  Laelius,  in  which 
I  am  proud  to  excel,"  replied  Manilius,  "  and  without 
which  no  one  could  know  his  own  possession  from  an- 
others.  But  of  that  by  and  by.  Let  u^  now^  listen 
to  Philus,  who  I  perceive  has  a  case  of  greater  difficulty 
referred  to  him,  than  ever  came  before  me  or  P.  Mu- 
cius." 

XIV.  "  I  shall  la}-  nothing  new  before  you,''  said  Phi- 
lus, "nor  any  thing  discovered  or  thought  of  by  myself. 
I  remember,  however,  that  C.  Sulpicius  Gallus,  a  very 
learned  man  as  you  know ;  w  hen  this  same  phenomenon 
was  stated  to  have  been  seen,  being  by  chance  in  the 
house  of  M.  Marcellus,  who  had  been  in  the  consulate 
with  him;  ordered  a  sphere  to  be  placed  before 
him,  which  the  ancestor  of  M.  Marcellus  had  taken 
from  the  conquered  Syracusans,   and  brought  out  of 


46 


CICERO  S  REPUBLIC. 


their  wealthy  and  embellished  city  ;  the  only  thing  he 
had  possessed  himself  of  among  so  great  a  spoil.  I 
had  heard  a  great  deal  of  this  sphere,  on  account  of  the 
fame  of  Archimedes,  but  did  not  admire  the  construction 
of  it  so  much  ;  for  another  which  Archimedes  also  had 
made,  and  which  the  same  Marcellus  had  placed  in  the 
temple  of  virtue,  was  more  elegant  and  remarkable  in 
the  general  opinion.  But  subsequently,  when  G alius 
began  very  scientifically  to  explain  the  nature  of  the 
mechanism ;  the  SiciliaP  appeared  to  me  to  possess 
more  genius,  than  human  nature  would  seem  to  be  ca- 
pable of.  Gallus  said,  that  the  other  solid  and  full 
sphere  was  an  old  invention,  an^  was  first  wrought 
by  Thales  of  Miletas  :  but  afterwards  was  delineated 
over  with  the  fixed  stars  in  the  heavens  by  Eudoxus, 
the  Cnidian,  a  disciple  of  Plato.  The  which  adorn- 
ed and  embellished  as  it  was  by  Eudoxus,  Aratus 
who  had  no  knowledge  of  astronomy,  but  a  cer- 
tain poetical  faculty,  many  years  afterwards  extolled  in 
his  verses.  The  mechanism  of  this  sphere,  however,  on 
which  the  motions  of  the  sun,  moon,  and  those  five 
stars  which  are  called  wandering  and  irregular,  are 
shown;  could  not  be  illustrated  on  that, solid  sphere. 
But  what  appeared  very  admirable  in  this  invention  of 
Archimedes  was,  that  he  had  discovered  a  method  of 
producing  the  unequal  and  various  courses,  with  their 
dissimilar  velocities,  by  one  revolution.  When  Gallus  ^ 
put  this  sphere  in  motion,  the  moon  was  made  to  suc- 
ceed the  sun  by  as  many  revolutions  of  the  brass  circle, 
as  it  actually  took  days  to  do  in  the  heavens.  From 
which  the  same  setting  of  the  sun  was  produced  on  the 
sphere  as  in  the  heavens  :  and  the  moon  fell  on  the  very 


BOOK  I.  47 

point,  where  it  met  the  shadow  of  the  earth,  when  the 
sun  from  the  region     *    *    *    * 

^  [About  ten  pages  wanting.] 

XV.  *  *  *  *  *  for  he  was  a  man  I  was 
very  much  attached  to,  and  I  know  that  my  father  Pau- 
lus  esteemed  and  placed  the  highest  value  on  him.  I 
remember  when  I  was  but  a  boy,  being  with  my  father, 
who  was  then  consul  in  Macedonia ;  that  while  we 
were  encamped,  our  army  wa#  struck  with  a  religious 
dread,  because  the  full  and  splendid  moon  in  the  sereni- 
ty of  the  night,  was  suddenly  eclipsed.  He  being  then 
our  lieutenant,  the  year  just  before  that  in  which  he  was 
declared  consul,  did  not  hesitate  the  following  day,  to 
pronounce  openly  in  the  camp,  that  it  was  no  prodigy. 
And  that  what  had  then  taken  place,  would  always  oc- 
cur in  future  at  those  particular  periods,  when  the  posi- 
tion of  the  sun  was  such,  that  its  rays  could  not  fall 
upon  the  moon.  "  But  how  could  he,"  asked  Tubero, 
"  make  men  half  wild,  comprehend  such  matters,  or 
venture  to  speak  of  them  before  the  unenlightened  ?  " 
Scipio.     "  Indeed  he  did,  and  with  great  *  *  *  * 

[About  two  pages  wanting.] 

*****  there  was  neither  a  haughty  osten- 
tation, nor  any  thing  in  his  speech  unbecoming  a  grave 
personage  ;  and  he  accomplished  a  point  of  great  im- 
portance, in  removing  from  the  disturbed  minds  of  the 
men,  the  influence  of  an  idle  and  fearful  superstition. 

XVI.  There  was  an  occurrence  similar  to  this  during 
the  great  war,  which  the  Athenians  and  Lacedemonians 
waged  against  each  other  with  so  much  inveteracy. 


48  Cicero's  republic. 

Darkness  being  suddenly  produced  by  the  obscuration 
of  the  sun,  and  a  prodigious  fear  taking  possession  of 
the  minds  of  the  Athenians.  Pericles,  the  first  man  in 
the  city,  in  authority,  in  eloquence,  and  in  council; 
taught  the  citizens  what  he  had  himself  learnt  from 
Anaxagoras,  whose  pupil  he  had  been :  that  it  was  an 
unavoidable  appearance  at  the  particular  period,  when 
the  moon  had  placed  herself  immediately  before  the 
orb  of  the  sun :  and  although  it  did  not  take  place  every 
lunar  period  ;  it  could  nevertheless  be  occasioned  only 
by  the  moon's  motion.  Having  convinced  them  by 
reasoning,  he  delivered  the  people  from  their  apprehen- 
sion. For  it  was  then  a  strange  and  unknown  reason 
n!o  give  for  an  ecH£se,  that  the  sun  and  moon  were  in 
opposition  to  each  other,  which  it  is  said,  was  first  ob- 
served by  TWes  the  Milesian.  At  a  later  period,  this 
had  not  escaped  our  Ennius,  who  wrote  about  the  year 
350  of  the  building  of  Rome,  in  the  nones  of  June ; 
that  "  the  moon  and  night  stood  before  the  sun."  So 
great,  however,  is  the  advancement  of  knowledge  in 
these  matters,  that  from  this  day,  which  we  find  noted 
in  the  principal  annals,  and  by  Ennius ;  the  previous 
occultations  of  the  sun  are  fixed  up  to  that  which  took 
place  in  the  reign  of  Romulus,  in  the  nones  of  the  fifth 
month.  During  which  darkness,  Romulus,  whom  the 
laws  of  nature  indeed  would  have  carried  to  the  tomb, 
is  said  to  have  been  borne  by  his  virtue  to  heaven. 

XVII.     Then  .Tubero,  "  Dost  thou   not   perceive 
Africanus,  that  what  appeared  otherwise  to  thee  a  whilr 

i)  f^O       ^       '^'       tST-       ■vfe       -^       ^ 

•   o. 

[Aliout  tiro  pages  wanting.] 


BOOK  I.  49 

*,*****«  Who  can  perceive  any  grandeur 
in  human  affairs,  whose  eyes  are  accustomed  to  survey 
the  empire  of  the  gods  ?  What  are  temporal  things  in 
the  eyes  of  those  conversant  with  eternal  ones  1  \\  hat 
is  there  glorious  to  the  contemplation  of  him,  who  looks 
at  the  small  size  of  the  earth  ;  first  as  to  its  whole  ex- 
tent, then  to  that  part  of  it  which  men  inhabit  ?  And 
yet  we,  confined  to  so  small  a  portion  of  it,  unknown  to 
most  nations,  hope  our  name  will  be  diffused  to  its  ut- 
most limits.  What  are  lands,  and  houses,  and  flocks, 
and  immense  masses  of  gold  and  silver  to  him  who  nei- 
ther considers  them  desirable  nor  calls. them  so:  the 
fruition  of  which  appears  to  him  trifling,  the  use  unsa- 
tisfactory, the  possession  uncertain :  and  which  are 
often  in  the  hands  of  the  most  contemptible  of  men? 
How  fortunate  may  that  man  be  esteemed,  who  alone 
claims  a  share  in  all  things,  not  as  the  privilege  of  a 
citizen,  but  of  a  philosopher  :  not  by  civil  rights,  but  by 
the  common  law  of  nature,  which  forbids  any  one  to  be 
the  proprietor  of  aught,  of  the  proper  use  of  which  he 
is  ignorant !  Who  considers  our^^gflos-ulg^s  and  high 
offices,  not  to  be  sought  after  for  the  sake  of  personal 
advantage  or  glory  ;  not  as  things  to  be  coveted,  but  to 
be  undertaken  as  duties.  The  man  finally  who  can  say 
that  of  himself  which  my  ancestor  Afncanus,  as  Cato 
writes,  was  wont  to  say,  "  that  he  never  was  more  busy 
than  when  he  was  doing  nothing ;  and  that  he  never 
was  less  alone,  than  when  nobody  was  with  him." 

For  who  can  deem  Dionysius  to  have  accomplished 
a  greater  thing,  when  by  the  greatest  exertion  he  snatch- 
ed their  liberties  from  the  citizens,  than  Archimedes  his 
6 


50  Cicero's  republic/ 

Countryman,  who  appearing  to  be  occupied  in  nothing; 
produced  this  sphere  of  which  we  were  but  now  con- 
versing ?  Are  they  not  more  alone,  who  find  no  one  in 
the  forum  or  in  the  crowd  who  chooses  to  talk  with 
them,  than  those  who  without  any  witness  can  con- 
verse with  themselves  ;  or  as  it  were,  be  present  at  the 
councils  of  the  must  learned  men,  when  they  solace 
themselves  with  their  discoveries  and  writings  1  Who 
in  truth  can  imagine  any  one  to  be  more  rich,  than  the 
man  who  has  no  jyants,  beyond  the  simple  calls  of  na- 
ture ;  or  more  powerful  than  him,  who  has  attained  the 
possession  of  al  that  he  desires  ;  or  more  blessed  than 
him  who  is  freed  from  all  anxiety  of  mind  1  or  what 
man's  fortune  is  better  established  than  his,  who 
can  carry  along  with  him,  or  out  of  a  shipwreck  as  men 
afC  wont  to  say,  all  his  possessions  1  What  command, 
what  office,  what  kingdom  can  be  preferred  to  that  con- 
dition of  mind,  which  looking  down  upon  all  things  hu- 
man, and  esteeming  them  to  be  the  objects  of  an  inferior 
wisdom,  turns  ever  to  the  contemplation  of  those 
things  that  are  diyine  and  eternal  :  persuaded  that  they 
only  deserve  te  be  called  men,  who  are  refined  by  the 
sciences  of  humanity?  That  which  has  been  said  of  Pla- 
to, or  of  some  other  sage,  appears  to  me  therefore  very 
excellent.  Who  being  borne  by  a  tempest  to  unknown 
lands,  and  cast  on  a  desert  shore,  while  his  companions 
were  apprehensive  on  account  of  their  ignorance  of  the 
place,  is  said  to  have  perceived  geometrical  fiunres  de- 
scribed oa  the  sand.  Which  when  he  saw,  he  bade 
them  all  be  of  good  heart,  for  he  had  seen  vestiges  of 
men.     Not  that  he  judged  fco  from  the  cultivation  ol  the 


BOOK  I.  51 

fields  which  he  beheld,  but  from  these  indications  of 
science.  For  all  these  reasons,  Tubero,  learning,  and 
learned  men,  and  these  thy  studies  have  always  been 
pleasing  to  me. 

XVIII.  Then  said  Lselius,  "  I  am  not  bold  enough, 
Scipio,  to  speak  of  these  things  :  nor  even  to  thee,  or 
Philus,  or  Manilius         ****** 

i '"'  [Two  pages  wanting  ] 

*  *         *       ,  *         in  his  paternal  house  we 

have  had  a  friend,  worthy  to  be  imitated  by  him. 

"  iEHus  Sextus,  conspicuously  discreet  and  wise." 
That  he  was  conspicuously  discreet  and  wise,  is  said  by 
Ennius,  not  because  he  sought  after  what  he  was  not 
able  to  discover,  but  because  he  answered  those  who 
made  inquiries  of  him,  in  a  manner  to  solve  their  diffi- 
culties and  anxieties,  in  whose  mouth  when  arguing 
against  the  studies  of  Gaiius,  were  always  these  words 
of  Achilles,  in  Iphigenia. 

"  Astrology,  its  signs  ;  how  are  they  read  in  heaven  ? 
When  goat  or  scorpion,  or  ferocious  names  arise. 
The  obvious  earth  is  shunned,  to  scrutinize  the  skies." 

He  also  said,  for  many  times  and  willingly  I  listened  to 
him,  that  Zethus  the  author  of  Pacuvius,  was  too  great 
an  enemy  to  science.  The  Neoptolemus  of  Ennius 
pleased  him  more  ;  who  says  that  he  likes  to  philoso- 
phize but  only  with  a  few  ;  not  willing  to  give  himself 
up  to  it  altogether.  But  if  the  studies  of  the  Greeks 
delight  you  so  much,  there  are  others  freer  and  more 


4^- 

52  Cicero's  republic. 

easily  diftused,  which  we  may  bring  to  the  use  of  lif©,  or 
even  to  that  of  the  republic.  As  for  these  arts,  their 
vahie  consists,  if  in  any  thing,  in  stimulating  and 
sharpening  the  genius  of  young  boys  ;  enabling  them  in 
this  manner  the  better  to  comprehend  greater  things. 

XIX.     "  I  do  not  dissent  from  you,  IjaeUus,"  said  Tu- 
bero,  "but  ask  what  you  understand  by  greater  things?" 

Lselius.     "  I  will  tell  you  in  good  faith,  although  you 
may  somewhat  despise  me  for  it ;  since  it  is  you  who 
are  asking.  Scipio  about  these  celestial  matters.     As 
for  myself,  I   think  those  things   most   worthy  of  our       - 
attention,  which  lay  immediately  before  our  eyes.   How 
can  it  interest  me  that  the  grandson  of  L.  Paulus  by  the 
mother's  side,   born  of  such   a  noble  and   illustrious    /^ 
family  in  this  republic,  should  seek  for  reason.^  why  two 
Mis  have  been  seen,  when  he  does  not  inquire  the  '^ 
^ause  why  two  senates,  and  almost  two  people  exist  in"^*' 
one  republic  ?     For  as  you  perceive  the  death  of  Tibe- 
rius Gracchus,  and  even  before  that  event,  the  whole 
proceedings  of  his  tribunate  were  dividing  one  people 
into  two  parties  ;  those  who  are  the  detractors  of  Sci- 
pio also,  and  are  envious  of  him,  urged  on  at  first  by 
P.  Crassus  and  Appius  Claudius,  keep  up  notwithstand- 
ing their  death,  an  opposition  to  us  in  the  senate,  through 
the  influence  of  Metellus  and  P.   Mucius.     Nor  will 
they  suffer  him  to  come  forward,  who  is  alone  equal  to 
so  dangerous  a  crisis,  amidst  the  factious  and  dangerous 
associations   made   under  the  Roman   name :    amidst 
violated  compacts,  and  the  new  matters  daily  stirring  by  ^  . 
the  seditious  triunavirs,  to  the  consternation  of  good  and 
respectable  men.     Wherefore  young  men,  if  you  will 


BOOK  I.  5S 

listen  to  me,  entertain  no  apprehensions  about  this 
double  sun :  for  either  it  is  nothing  at  all,  or  if  it  is 
a  reality,  as  far  as  it  has  been  observed,  there  is  no- 
ithing  injurious  in  it.  Either  we  can  know  nothing 
about  such  matters,  or  even  if  we  could  know  all  about 
them,  we  should  not  be  better  or  happier  for  that  know- 
ledge. But  one  senate  and  one  people  we  may  have  ; 
that  is  practicable.  And  if  it  is  not  done,  we  shall  suf- 
fer for  it.  And  we  know  it  is  otherwise,  and  that  if  it 
were  effected,  we  should  have  more  stability,  and  be 
happier  and  better." 

XX.  Then  Mucins.  *'  AVhat  is  it  we  have  to  learn, 
in  your  opinion,  Laelius,  that  we  may  be  able  to  effect 
what  you  require  of  us  ?" 

Laelius.  "  Those  sciences  whose  tendency  is  to 
enable  us  to  be  useful  to  the  state  ;  for  I  deem  that  to 
be  the  most  pre-eminent  gift  of  wisdoiQ,  as  well  as  the 
noblest  fruit  of  v^tue  andjJujty.  Wherefore  that  these 
holidays  maybe  productive  of  conversations  in  an  espe- 
cial manner  useful  to  the  republic,  let  us  entreat  Scigio 
to  impart  to  us,  what  he  deems  to  be  the  happiest  con- 
dition of  a  state.  Afterwards  we  can  consider  other 
matters,  the  knowledge  of  which  I  hope  will  bring  us  to 
the  subject  before  us,  and  will  unfold  the  causes  of  the 
present  condition  of  things. 

[Two  pages  wanting.] 

XXI.  *****     not  for  that  cause  alone  I 
wished  it,  but  because  I  thought  it  proper  that  the  first 
person  in  the  republic  should  first  speak  on  public  af- 
fairs ;  and  because  I  remembered  that  you  were  accus- 
ed 


54  CICERo's  REPUBLIC. 

tomed  frequently  to  discuss  with  Panaetius  before  Poly- 
$  ^^  bius,  two  Greeks  oxtremely  versed  in  civil  affairs  ;  and 
that  you  had  proved  by  various  reasonings  the  excel- 
lence of  that  form  of  government,  which  our  ancestors 
had  transmitted  to  us  from  so  distant  a  period.  In  the 
which  matter,  you,  being  more  competent  to  it,  will  do 
aa  agreeable  thing  to  us  all,   (for  I  speak  also  for  the 

rest,)  if  you  will  unfold  to  us  your  opinion  of  the^cora- 
monwealth." 

.  XXII.  "  I  cannot,"  he  began,  "  say  that  I  have  been 
jn  the  habit  of  turning  my  mind  more  intensely  and  dili- 
gently to  the  consideration  of  any  subject,  than  the 
very  one  which  you  now  propose  to  me,  Lselius.  For 
when  I  perceive  that  every  artificer  who  truly  excels  in 
his  vocation,  is  filled  with  anxiety,  care,  and  zeal,  lest 
any  one  should  surpass  him  in  his  art.  I,  whose  chief 
duty,  bequeathed  to  me  by  my  parents  and  ancestors,  is 
the  conduct  and  administration  of  the  republic,  must 
'  confess  myself  more  indolent  than  any  artisan,  if  I  be- 
stowed less  attention  on  the  greatest  of  arts,  than  he 
does  on  the  most  insignificant.  But  neither  am  I  satis- 
fied with  the  writings  on  this  subject  which  the  first  and 
wisest  among  the  Greeks  have  left  to  us  ;  while  I  hesi- 
tate to  establish  my  own  conclusions  in  preference  to 
theirs.  Wherefore  I  intreat  you,  not  to  listen  to  me  as 
one  entirely  ignorant  of  the  affairs  of  the  Greeks,  nor 
as  one  who  gives  them  the  preference  to  our  own  wri- 
ters, particularly  in  matters  of  this  kind ;  but  as  one 
liberally  brought  up  by  the  diligence  of  distinguished 
parents,  and  ardent  in  the  love  of  Jinowledgo  from  hie 


BOOK  I.  65 

youth ;  yet  nevertheless  much  more  formed  by  domes- 
tic experience,  than  by  Hterary  studies." 

XXIII.  "  I  doubt,"  said  Philus  here,  "  whether  any 
one  has  ever  excelled  you  in  genius.  We  know  to 
what  studies  you  have  always  been  partial,  and  that  in 
your  acquaintance  with  the  great  affairs  of  the  state, 
you  have  surpassed  every  one  :  wherefore  if  as  you 
say,  your  mind  has  been  particularly  turned  to  matters 
which  have  now  become  almost  a  science  :  I  feel  very 
much  indebted  to  Laelius,  feeling  a  hope  that  what  you 
will  say  will  be  more  instructive,  than  all  those  things 
which  the  Greeks  have  written  for  us.^'  "You  are 
creating"  replied  he,  "  much  expectation  from  my  dis- 
course, which  is  a  very  great  weight  upon  one,  who  is 
about  to  speak  of  matters  of  importance."  "  However 
great  it  may  be,"  said  Philus,  "  you  will  throw  it  off  as 
you  are  accustomed  to  do  ;  nor  is  there  any  danger  that 
a  dissertation  from  you  on  government  will  be  deficient 
in  any  requisite." 

XXIV.  "  I  will  do  what  you  desire,  as  well  as  I  am 
able,"  rejoined  Scipio,  "  and  will  begin  the  discussion 
in  conformity  with  the  rule  which  I  think  ought  to  be 
observed  in  the  examination  of  all  things,  if  you  would 
avoid  error.  That  the  n^me  of  Ihe  subject  in  discus- 
sion being  agreed  upon,  the  meaning  of  the  name  shall 
be  defined.  If  this  be  found  to  be  appropriate,  the 
matter  can  be  entered  upon  at  once  ;  for  unless  this  be 
perfectly  understood  at  first,  we  never  can  understand 
what  we  are  disputing  about.  Wherefore  since  it  is  of 
the  republic  we  are  inquiring,  let  us  first  examine  what 
tha»  is  we  are  inquiring  about."     Laelius  having  shown 


IC 


56  CICERo's  REPUBLIC. 

his  acquiescence.  "  I  do  not  intend,  however,"  said 
Africanus,  "  in  a  matter  so  clear  and  familiar,  to  begin 
with  the  very  origin  of  things  ;  the  first  conjunction  of 
the  sexes  ;  then  their  progeny  and  descendants,  as  some 
of  our  learned  men  are  accustomed  to  do  :  nor  shall  I 
go  into  continual  definitions  of  terms — what  they  are — 
and  how  many  varieties  of  them.  When  I  address 
wise  men,  who  in  war  and  in  peace,  have  taken  a  glori- 
ous part  in  the  affairs  of  a  great  republic,  I  shall  not 
expose  myself  in  such  a  manner,  that  the  very  thing  un- 
der discussion  shall  be  more  intelligible,  than  my  own 
explanation  of  it.  Neither  do  I  take  upon  me  to  pur- 
sue the  subject  in  every  direction,  as  a  master  would  : 
nor  can  I  promise  to  do  it  so  effectually,  that  no  omis- 
sion whatever  shall  escape  me."  "  It  is  exactly  such  a 
discourse  as  you  promise,  that  I  am  in  expectation  of," 
said  Laelius. 

XXV.  '*  A  republic  or  commonwealth  then,"  said 
Scipio,  "  is  the  wealth  or  common  interest  of  the  people. 
Every  assemblage  of  men  however,  gathered  together 
without  an  object,  is  not  the  people,  but  only  an  as- 
semblage of  the  multitude  associated  by  common  con- 
sent, for  reciprocal  rights,  and  reciprocal  usefulness. 
The  leading  cause  of  this  congregating,  is  not  to  be 
ascribed  so  much  to  his  weakness,  as  to  the  social  prin- 
ciple innate  with  man.  Our  species  is  not  a  solitary 
and  wandering  one,  but  is  so  created  that  even  when 
enjoying  the  greatest  affluence       *       *       *       * 


[Two  pages  wanting.] 


BOOK   I.  57 

XXVI.  *  *  *  *  rather  intuitive  ;  for  no 
orig:irial  institution  of  tiie  social  state  has  been  found, 
nor  of  the  other  moral  virtues.  These  congregations 
therefore  made  for  the  purposes  I  have  explained,  es- 
tablished their  first  seat  in  some  particular  place  for  a 
residence.  Which  after  being  fortified  by  their  labours 
and  by  its  position,  and  fitted  with  temples  and  public 
squares,  the  re-union  of  dwellings  constructed  after 
this  manner,  they  called  a  town  or  city.  Every  people 
therefore,  formed  by  the  assemblage  of  such  a  multi- 
tude as  I  have  described,  every  city  which  is  the  settle- 
ment of  a  people,  every  commonwealth  which  as  I  have 
said,  is  the  wealth  of  the  people,  must  in  order  to  be 
permanent,  be  governed  by  some  authorit34.  TThat 
authority  however  must  alwayj  h^iye  a  stroxi^  relatiojw  to 
the  causes  from  whence  the  cprnmoQwealth  derived  its 
origin.  It  may  then  be  delegated  lo  one,  or  to  some 
selected  persons  ;  or  it  may  be  borne  by  the  whole 
multitude  of  the  people.  When  therefore  authority 
over  all  things,  is  in  the  control  of  oj[)e_  man,  we  call 
him  king ;  and  a  commonwealth  so  ordered,  his  king- 
dom. When  the  authority  is  exercised  by  s^igcted 
persons,  then  such  a  state  is  said  to  be  under  the  go- 
vernment of  the  better  class.  But  there  is  also  a  popu- 
lar form  of  government,  for  so  it  is  called,  where  all 
things  are  ruled  by  the  people.  And  of  any  of  these 
.Jthree  niodes,  if  the  chain  is  in  any  manner  kept  together, 
which  at  first  united  men  into  the  social  pact  for  the 
sake  of  the  common  interest,  I  would  not  indeed  call 
the  mode  perfect,  nor  say  that  in  my  opinion  it  was  the 
best,  but  that  it  was  to  be  tolerated,  and  that  one  might 


58  Cicero's  republic. 

be  preferable  to  another.  For  whether  under  a  just  and 
wise  king,  or  chosen  eminent  citizens,  or  the  people 
themselves,  although  this  last  is  least  to  be  approved  of, 
setting  aside  the  irregularities  occasioned  by  the  bad 
passions  of  some  men,  any  one  may  see  that  a  steady 
government  might  be  preserved. 

XXVII.  In  kingdoms  however,  the  governed  are 
too  much  deprived  ot  common  rights,  and  of  power. 
Under  the  better  class,  the  multitude  can  scarcely  be 
partakers  of  liberty,  as  they  are  not  admitted  either  to 
the  public  councils  or  offices  :  and  when  the  sfovernment 
is  conducted  by  the  people,  although  it  be  justly  and 
moderately  administered,  yet  equality  itself  becomes 
injustice,,  seeing  that  it  admits  of  no  degrees  of  rank. 
Therefore,  although  Cyrus  the  Persian,  was  a  most  just 
and  wise  king,  yet  such  a  commonwealth,  (for  as  I  said 
before,  it  is  the  common  property,)  governed  by  the  nod 
of  one  man,  does  not  appear  to  me  very  desirable. 
And  although  the  Massilians  our  clients  are  governed 
with  great  justice,  by  their  chosen  chief  men,  never- 
theless in  that  condition  of  a  people,  there  is  something 
resembling  slavery.  And  the  Athenians  at  a  certain 
period  having  abolished  the  Areopagus,  conducted  every 
thing  by  ordinances,  and  decrees  of  the  people  ;  yet  as 
they  had  no  distinctions  in  dignity,  their  state  was  with- 
out its  ornament. 

XXVIII.  And  this  I  say  of  these  three  kinds  of 
government,  not  of  the  agitations  and  disturbances  inci- 
dental to  them,  but  of  their  tranquil  and  regular  state. 
Those  varieties  are  principally  remarkable  for  the  defects 
I  have  alluded  to.     Then  they  have  other  pernicious 


r 


BOOK  T.  59 


failings,  for  every  one  ot  these  governments  is  travel- 
ling a  dangerous  road,  bordering  on  a  slippery  and  pre- 
cipitous path.  To  a  king  so  commendable,  or  if  you 
choose,  since  I  especially  name  him ;  to  the  amiable 
Cyrus ;  a  parallel  springs  up  m  the  cruel  Phalaris,  with 
all  his  capricious  tyranny ;  into  whose  similitude  the 
government  of  one  man  so  easily  slides  with  a  down- 
ward course.  To  the  administration  of  the  city  of  the 
Massilians  by  their  select  chiefs,  may  be  opposed  the 
plot  and  faction  of  the  Thirty,  which  took  place  at  a 
certain  period  among  the  Athenians.  Nor  need  we 
look  farther  ;  the  very  Athenian  people  having  assumed 
the  power  over  all  things,  and  giving  license  to  the  fury 
of  the  multitude     ****** 

[Two  pages  wanting.] 

XXIX.  ******  and  this  great  mis- 
chief arises  whether  under  the  rule  of  the  better  class, 
or  under  a  tyrannical  faction,  or  under  the  regal  govern- 
ment ;  and  even  frequently  under  the  popular  form.  At 
the  same  time  from  the  various  forms  of  government  of 
which  I  have  spoken,  something  excellent  is  wont  to 
emanate.  For  the  changes  and  vicissitudes  in  public 
affairs,  appear  to  move  in  a  circle  of  revolutions  ;  which 
when  recognized  by  a  wise  man,  as  soon  as  he  beholds 
them  i  ipending,  if  he  can  moderate  their  course  in 
the  administration  of  affairs,  and  restrain  them  under 
his  control ;  he  acts  truly  the  part  of  a  great  citizen, 
and  almost  of  a  divine  man.     Therefore  I  think  a  fourth 


60  CICERO's  REPUBLIC. 

Ikind  of  government,  moderated  and  mixed  from  those 
'  three  of  which  I  first  spoke,  is  most  to  be  approved." 

XXX.  "  I  know"  said  Laelius,  '*  that  such  is  your 
opinion  Africanus,  for  I  have  often  heard  you  say  so. 
Nevertheless,  unless  it  is  troublesome  to  you,  I  should 
be  glad  to  learn  which  you  judge  best  of  these  three 
kinds  of  government.  For  either  it  will  throw  some 
light  upon     ****** 

[Two  pages  wanting.] 

XXXI.  ******  every  government 
partakes  of  the  nature  and  will  of  him  who  administers 
it.  So  that  in  no  other  state,  save  where  the  power  of 
the  people  predominates,  has  liberty  any  home.  Liberty 
the  sweetest  of  all  blessings,  and  which  if  it  is  not 
equal  for  all,  is  not  liberty.  For  what  equality  can  there 
be,  I  do  not  mean  in  kingdoms  where  slavery  has  no 
doubtful  character .  but  in  those  states  where  all  are 
nominally  free  :  there  indeed  they  give  their  votes,  con- 
fer commands,  magistracies,  and  are  solicited  and  in- 
treated.  But  in  truth  they  only  part  with  that,  nowever 
repugnant  it  may  be  to  them,  uhich  must  be  conferred  : 
things  which  they  cannot  retain,  which  is  the  reason 
why  others  seek  to  possess  them.  For  they  are  invested 
with  no  command,  have  no  public  authority,  nor  are 
called  to  be  judges  in  the  tribunals :  privileges  which 
belong  either  to  ancient  families,  or  are  purchased  by 
money.  Among  a  free  people  however,  as  at  Rhodes 
or  Athens,  there  is  no  citizen  who     ***** 

[Two  pages  wanting.] 


A4e 


t 


I 


BOOK  1.  61 

XXXII.  Some  assert,  that  when  one  or  more  in  a  state 
becomes  conspicuous  by  his  opulence  or  riches,  disdain 
and  pride  soon  break  out :  and  the  weak  and  indolent  yield 
and  bend  under  the  arrogance  of  riches.  But  if  the^eo-^  i 
,  pie  are  able  to  preserve  their  rights,  thfey  think  no  con- 
dition  of  things  could  be  more  excellent,  more  free,  or 
more  happy.  For  in  their  hands  would  be  the  laws,  the 
tribunals,  war,  peace,  treaties,  and  the  propetLJes  _am^ 
livfts^gf^ll  fhft  ritiy-fins.^  This  sort  of  government  they 
think  is  properly  called  one  republic,  that  is  the  com- 
mon interest  of  the  people.  Wherefore  it  is,  that  the 
people  are  wont  to  restore  commonwealths  to  liberty 
from  the  domination  of  kings,  and  patricians  ;  not  that 
kings  are  believed  to  be  necessary  to  a  free  people,  or 
that  the  better  class  are  the  source  of  power  and  wealth. 
And  they  deny  that  these  advantages  should  not  be  con- 
ceded to  a  free  people  on  account  of  the  excesses  of 
uncivilized  nations :  for  where  the  people  are  unani- 
mous, and  every  thing  tends  to  the  public  safety  and 
liberty,  nothing  can  be  more  unchangeable,  nothing 
more  firm.  Unanimity  in  such  a  commonwealth  is 
very  easy,  where  the  common  effort  is  for  the  public 
good.  But  from  opposing  interests,  where  one  man 
clashes  with  another,  discord  arises.  Wherefore  when 
the  senate  had  possession  of  the  government,  the  con- 
dition of  the  state  wa^  never  sound.  In  kingdoms  the 
disadvantages  are  still  greater ;  of  them  Ennius^  said 

"No  holy  conf;(lence  or  fellowship  reigns  there." 

Wherefore  as  the  law  is  the  bond  of  civil  society,  and 
equal  rights  form  that  of  the  law,  by  what  power  ca%a 

7 


^'       62  CICERo's  REPUBLIC. 

community  of  cidzens  be  maintained,  where  their  con- 
I  dition  is  not  an  equal  one  ?  If  therefore  it  is  not  expe- 
dient to  equaUze  fortunes ;  if  the  powers  of  mind  can- 
•  not  be  equahzed  in  all,  certainly  then  an  equality  of 
rights  ought  to  ef^ist,  among  those  who  are  citizens  of 
the  same  republic.  For  what  is  a  state  but  a  commu- 
nity of  rights  ?***** 


r: 


[Two  pages  jvaftting.]     _ 

XXXIII.  *  *  other  governments  however  are  deem- 
ed by  them  not  to  deserve  those  names,  which  they  have 
chosen  to  arrogate  to  themselves.  For  why  should  I 
call  a  man  who  is  greedy  of  rule,  or  of  the  sole  com- 
mand, and  who  is  trampling  upon  an  oppressed  peo- 
ple, king,  which  is  the  title  of  the  good  Jupiter,  rather 
than  tyrant  ?  A  tyrant  may  be  clement  as  well  as  a 
king  may  be  oppressive ;  the  matter  really  interesting  to 
the  people  is,  whether  they  are  to  serve  under  a  gentle 
or  a  severe  master  :  for  as  to  being  any  thing  but  ser- 
vants, that  is  not  to  be  avoided.  How  could  Lacedemon, 
whei\  she  was  thought  to  excel  in  the  science  of  govern- 
ment, possess  only  good  and  just  kings,  when  she  was 
obliged  to  take  any  king  who  was  sprung  from  the  royal 
blood  1  And  the  better  class,  who  can  endure  them, 
who  have  arrogated  to  themselves  in  their  own  assem- 
blies, a  name  not  conceded  to  them  by  the  people  ?  For 
who  is  the  man  to  be  pronounced  best,  in  learning,  in 
the  arts,  in  studies  ]***** 

[Four  pages  wanting.] 


BOOK  I.  63 

XXXIV.     *     *     *     *     If  it  was  done   by  lot,  the 
government  would  be  overthrown  ;   like  a  ship,  at  whose 
helm,  some  passenger  taken  at  hazard  wa^  placed.     A 
nation  can  entrust  its  affairs  to  whom  it  may  choose;  and 
if  it  wishes  to  remain  free,  it  will  choose  from  among 
the  best.     For  certainly  the   security  of  states  is  found 
in  the  counsels  of  the  best   citizens  ;  especially  as  na-  . 
ture  has  not  only  ordained  that  they  should  preserve  an  J 
influence  over  the  weak  by  their  conspicuous  virtue  and  * 
coftrage,  but  also  that  the  weak  should  resign  themselves 
to  the  eovernment  of  great  minds.     This   most  desira- 
ble state  of  things,   they  say,  is  prevented  by  the   erro- 
neous opinions  of  men  who,  through  ignorance  of  that 
virtue,  which   belongs  to  but  few,   and  is  seen  and  ap- 
preciated only  by  few,  deem  those  who  are  sprung  from 
a  noble  race,  or  who  are  opulent  and  wealthy,  to  be  the 
best  men.     Under  this  vulgar  error,   when  the  power, 
not  the  virtues   of  a  few,   have  got  possession  of  the 
government;    those   chiefs  tenaciously   preserve    the 
title  of  better  class  ;  a  name  however  to  which  the  sub- 
stance is  wanting.    For  riches,  titles,  and  power,  devoid 
of  wisdom,  of  the  knowledge  ot  self-government,  and 
that  of  the  government  of  others,  exhibit  nothing  but  in- 
solent and  disgraceful  pride.     Nor  can  the  condition  of 
any  city  be  more  deplorable,  than  where  the  richest  meij 
pass  for  the  best.     But  what  can  be  more  delightful  than     J 
a  state   virtuously  governed  ?     What  more   illustrious     * 
than  the  man,  who  while  he  governs  others,  is  himself 
the  slave  of  no  bad  passions?  Who,  while  he  calls  upon 
the  citizens  to^observe   the  regulation's   he  has  formed, 
lives  im4<rtneni  all  himself?     Nor  imposes  any  laws 


64  CICERo's  REPUBLIC. 

upon  the  people,  which  he  himself  obeys  not,  but  who 
presents  his  whole  life  to  his  fellow  citizens  as  one  un- 
broken law.  If  one  man  could  suffice  to  all  things, 
there  would  be  no  need  of  many  ;  and  if  all  men  could 
perceive  what  is  best,  and  consent  to  it,  no  one  would 
require  any  chiefs  to  be  elected.  The  difficulty  of 
coming  to  wise  determinations,  has  transferred  the  rule 
from  one  king  to  many  persons  ;  and  the  error  and 
rashness  of  the  people,  from  the  multitude  to  a  few. 
Thus  between  the  obstinacy  of  one,  and  the  temerity  of 
many,  the  better  class  have  possessed  themselves  of  the 
middle  and  least  turbulent  of  all  the  situations  :  by 
whom  if  the  commonwealth  is  well  administered,  tl\e 
people  relieved  from  all  care  and  thought,  must  neces- 
sarily be  happy  :  enjoying  their  independence  through 
the  labours  of  those,  whose  duty  it  is  to  preserve  it  to 
them  ;  and  who  'ought  never  to  permit  the  people  to 
think  that  their  interests  are  neglected  by  their  rulers. 
As  to  that  exact  equality  of  rights,  which  is  held  so  dear 
by  a  free  people  ;  it  cannot  be  preserved  :  for  the  peo- 
ple themselves,  however  free  and  unrestrained  they  may 
be,  are  remarkable  for  their  deference  to  many  persons  ; 
and  exercise  a  great  preference  as  it  respects  men  and 
dignities.  That  which  is  called  equality  also,  is  a  most 
unjust  thing  in  itself :  for  when  the  same  honour  is  en- 
joyed by  the  high  and  by  the  low,  through  a  whole  peo- 
ple, that  very  equality  n.ust  be  unjust ;  and  in  those 
states  which  are  governed  by  the  better  class,  it  can 
never  happen.  These^  Laelius,  and  some  other  reasons 
resembling  them,  are  wont  to  be  urged  by  those  who 
chiefly  praise  that  form  of  government. 


BOOK  I.  65 

XXXV.     "But  which,  Scipio,  among  those   three,  .^  w 
do  you  chiefly  approve  of?"  said  Lselius.  '* 

Scipio.  "  You  do  well  to  ask,  which  chiefly  of  the 
three,  since  separately  I  do  not  approve  of  my  of  them  ; 
but  should  prefer  to  every  one  of  them,  a  goveriimeilt 
con&tituted-ou.t  of  alLthree.  But  if  one  of  them  for  its 
simplicity  may  be  admired,  I  should  approve  of  the  king- 
ly form,  and  give  it  the  highest  praise.  For  the  name 
of  king  calls  up  at  once  the  idea  of  a  father,  consulting 
with  his  citizens  as  if  they  were  his  own  children  ;  and 
more  anxious  to  preserve  them,  than  to  reduce  them  to 
slavery  :  it  being  a  great  advantage  to  the  weak  to  be 
sustained  by  the  exertions  and  by  the  foresight  of  one 
pre-eminent  and  good  man.  Here  however  the  better 
class  profess  to  do  the  same  thing  to  more  advantage, 
and  say  there  is  more  wisdom  with  numbers  than  with 
one,  and  at  the  same  time  equal  justice  and  faith.  But 
the  people  call  out  with  a  loud  voice,  that  they  choose 
neither  to  obey  one  nor  many  ;  that  nothing  is  sweeter  -, 
to  the  beasts  of  the  field  than  liberty,  which  is  wanting  ■ 
to  all  who  serve  either  under  the  better  class  or  under  a 
king.  Thus  on  the  score  of  personal  attachment,  kings 
attract  us.  The  better  class  by  their  wisdom  ;  and  lib- 
erty on  the  side  of  the  people.  So  that  in  making  the 
comparison,  it  is  difficult  to  say  which  is  preferable." 

L.  '*  I  believe  it,"  said  he,  ''  but  if  you  leave  this 
point  unfinished,  the  other  parts  of  the  subject  can 
scarcely  be  cleared  up." 

XXXYI.    S.    "  Let  us  imitate  therefore  xiratus,  who 
in  his  introduction  to  a  discourse  upon  high  matters, 
thought  it  best  to  begin  with  Jupiter." 
7* 


66  Cicero's  uepublic. 

L.     "  Why  with  Jupiter  ]    and  what  has  this  discus- 
sion to  do  with  the  verses  of  Aratus  1" 

S.  "  Insomuch,  that  the  opening  of  our  debate  may 
be  honoured  with  the  name  of  him,  whom  all,  learned 
and  unlearned,  consent  with  one  voice,  to  be  the  one 
king  of  all  the  gods  and  men."  "  What  then  !"  said 
Lselius.  "  What  do  you  believe  in  but  the  things  which 
are  before  your  eyes?"  replied  he.  "  This  opinion  has 
been  established  for  the  conduct  of  life,  by  those  who 
have  had  the  direction  of  public  affairs  ;  that  the  belief 
might  prevail,  that  one  king  ruled  in  heaven,  who  with 
his  nod,  as  Homer  says,  could  tumble  down  Olympus ; 
and  that  he  should  be  considered  as  the  King  and  Fa- 
ther of  all.  Great  is  the  authority  for  it,  and  many  the 
witnesses,  inasmuch  as  all  have  concurred  in  it.  Na- 
tions too  have  agreed,  as  we  find  in  the  decrees  of 
princes,  that  the  regal  form  of  government  was  most  ex- 
cellent, since  they  imagine  the  gods  themselves  to  be 
under  the  government  of  one  king.  And  if  we  have 
been  told  that  this  and  similar  opinions  have  sprung  from 
fables  and  the  errors  of  the  ignorant,  let  us  Hsten  to 
those  who  may  be  considered  almost  the  common 
teachers  of  erudite  men  ;  who  as  it  were,  saw  these 
very  things  with  their  eyes,  which  we  scarcely  are  ac- 
quainted with,  when  we  hear  of  them."  "  And  who 
are  they  1"  said  Laelius.  "  They,"  replied  he,  who  in 
their  investigations  of  the  nature  of  all  things,  have 
perceived  a  design  in  the  universal  structure  of  this 
world      ******  ^ 

[Four  pages  wanting.J 


BOOK  1.  67 

XXXYII.  ******'•  But  if  you  de- 
sire it  Laglius,  I  can  give  you  authorities  in  no  wise  bar- 
barous, nor  of  too  remote  an  antiquity." 

L.     I  should  be  glad  to  have  them. 

S.  You  are  aware  that  it  is  now  somewhat  less  than 
four  hundred  years  since  this  city  has  been  governed 
without  kings. 

L.     That  is  true  ;  rather  less. 

S.  What  then  are  four  hundred  years,  for  the  age  of 
a  city  or  state  ;  is  it  such  a  long  period  ? 

L.     It  can  hardly  be  called  an  adult  age. 

S.  Then  there  was  a  king  in  Rome  four  hundred 
years  ago  1 

L.     And  a  very  superb  one. 

S.     Wiio  before  him  ? 

L.  A  most  just  one  ;  and  from  that  period  up  to 
Romulus,  who  reigned  six  hundred  years  from  the  pre- 
sent time. 

S.     Then  he  is  not  so  very  remote. 

L.  Not  at  all.  The  institutions  of  Greece  were 
already  on  the  wane. 

S.  I  submit  to  you  now,  whether  Romulus  was  the 
king  of  a  barbarous  people  ? 

L.  If  as  the  Greeks  say,  all  men  were  either  Greeks 
or  Barbarians  ;  then  I  am  afraid  he  must  be  esteemed 
a  king  of  a  barbarous  people.  But  if  that  epithet  is 
appropriate  to  a  difference  of  manners,  rather  than  to 
languages,  I  think  the  Greeks  not  less  barbarians  than 
the  Romans."  *'  In  relation  to  the  matter  of  which  we 
speak,"  said  Scipio,  *'  it  is  intelligence  we  are  looking  for, 
rather  than  men.     If  a  discreet  people  therefore,  not  of 


68  CICERO's  REPUBLIC. 

a  very  ancient  period,  have  preferred  the  government  of 
kings,  I  am  availing  myself  of  testimony  which  cannot 
be  deemed  savage,  uncivilized,  or  of  a  barbarous  an- 
tiquity." 

XXXVIII.  "  I  perceive  Scipio,"  said  Lcelius,  "  that 
you  are  sufficiently  provided  with  testimony.  But  with 
me,  as  with  good  judges,  sound  argument  prevails 
more  than  witnesses."  "  Make  use  of  an  argument 
then,"  replied  Scipio,  ^'  which  your  knowledge  of  your- 
self can  suggest  to  you."    '^  VYhat  knowledge,"  said  he. 

S.  Why  as  when  by  chance  it  happens  to  you  to  be 
angry  with  some  one. 

L.     That  occurs  oftener  than  1  could  wish. 

S.  What!  when  you  are  in  anger,  do  you  suffer 
your  mind  to  fall  under  the  domination  of  that  pas- 
sion t 

L.  No,  so  help  me  Hercules.  I  rather  imitate  Ar- 
chytas,  the  Tarentine  ;  who  oq  arriving  at  his  country 
house,  and  being  greatl}^  offended  at  perceiving  his 
orders  had  been  disobeyed,  "  You  are  a  miserable 
wretch,"  said  he  to  his  farmer,  "  and  I  would  have  you 
flogged  to  death  if  I  were  not  angry."  *'  Excellent," 
said  Scipio.  "  Archytas  wished  to  calm  his  anger  by 
reflection,  considering  that  degree  of  it  which  was  not 
under  the  control  of  reason,  to  be  leading  on  to  a  sort 
of  sedition  of  the  mind.  To  it  add  avarice,  ambition, 
the  passion  for  glory,  And  for  sensual  pleasures  ;  and  it 
will  appear  that  there  exists  in  the  minds  of  men,  a  sort 
of  regal  controlling  power,  to  wit,  reflection.  For  that 
js  the  best  part  of  the.  mind,  and  where  its  authority 


BOOK  I.  69 

prevails,  there  is  no  room  for  sensuality,  for  anger,  or 
for  rashness. 

L.     So  it  is. 

S.  Do  you  approve  therefore  of  a  mind  so  dis- 
posed 1 

L.     There  is  nothing  I  admire  more. 

S.  Then  you  really  do  not  think,  reflection  being- 
driven  away ;  that  voluptuousness  or  the  angry  pas- 
sions, which  are  without  end,  should  have  the  mastery 
in  all  things. 

L.  Indeed  I  can  conceive  of  nothing  more  wretch- 
ed, than  such  a  state  of  mind  ;  nor  of  a  man  more  de- 
based than  when  under  such  government. 

S.  You  prefer  then  all  parts  of  the  mind,  to  be  under 
some  government,  the  government  of  reflection  1 

L.     I  certainly  prefer  it. 

S.     Why  therefore  do  you  hesitate  in  your  opinion 

P  about  public  affairs ;  where  if  the  administration  is 
transferred  to  many,  there  will  be  no  one,  as  I  now  Un- 
derstand it,  to  take  the  command.  And  it  seems  that 
if  authority  is  not  one  thing,  it  is  nothing  at  all. 

XXXIX.  ''  I  would  ask,"  said  L^lius,  "  of  what 
T:  consequence  it  is  to  us,  whether  one  or  many,  if  justice 
is  dispensed  by  the  latter,"  *'  Since  I  find  Lselius,"  said 
Scipio,  "  that  my  witnesses  have  made  no  great  impres- 
sion on  you,  I  shall  not  desist  from  making  use  of  your- 
^  self  as  a  witness  to  prove  what  I  say."  "  Me,"  said 
he,  "  in  what  way?" 

S.  Why  adverting  to  the  directions  you  so  earnestly 
gave  to  your  family,  when  we  were  lately  at  Formia- 
num  ;  to  obey  only  the  orders  of  one  person. 


70  Cicero's  brpublic. 

L.     Oh !  my  farmer  !  , 

S.     Well,  at  home,  I  suppose,  several  are  entrusted 
with  the  management  of  your  affairs  ? 
.   L.  No,  only.  one. 

S.  What,  your  whole  establishment !  does  no  one 
but  yourself  manage  it  1 

L.     Just  so. 

S.  Do  not  you  therefore  accede  to  the  same  con- 
clusion in  public  affairs ;  that  the  government  of  a 
single  person,  if  it  is  a  just  one,  is  the  best? 

L.  I  am  brought  to  the  conclusion,  and  must  al- 
most assent  to  it. 

XL.  You  will  be  more  inclined  to  that  opinion,  said 
Scipio,  when  omitting  the  analogies  of  one  pilot,  one 
physician,  who  if  they  are  any  way  skilled  in  their  arts, 
ought  one  to  have  the  control  of  the  ship ;  the  other  of 
the  patient,  in  preference  to  many  ;  I  come  to  the  con- 
sideration  of  greater  matters. 

h.     What  are  they? 

S.  Are  you  not  aware  that  the  name  of  king  became 
odious  to  this  people,  on  account  of  the  oppression  and 
pride  of  one  man,  Tarquin  ? 

L.  Yes,  I  am  aware. 

S.  Then  you  are  aware  of  what  haply  id  the  course 
of  this  discussion,  I  may  find  occc*sion  to  speak. 
Tarquin  being  driven  out,  the  people  exulted  with  a 
marvellous  sort  of  insolence  of  freedom.  At  one  time 
driving  innocent  people  into  exile  ;  at  another,  confis- 
cating the  property  of  many.  Next  came  annual  con- 
suls. Then  the  fasces  pro.  trated  before  the  people — 
appeals  in  all  cases.     Then  the  mutiny  of  the  plebeians 


Ir 


BOOK  I.  71 

— then  a  complete  revolution  in  every  thing,  placing 
all  things  in  the  power  of  the  people. 

L.  It  is  as  you  say.  *'  It  is  true,"  said  Scipio — *'in 
peace  and  tranquillity,  some  license  may  be  permitted 
when  there  is  nothing  to  fear,  as  at  sea  sometimes,  or 
in  a  slight  fever :  but  like  him  who  is  at  sea,  when  sud- 
denly the  ocean  puts  on  its  terrors,  or  the  sick  man, 
when  his  complaint  oppresses  him,  and  the  assistance 
of  one  is  implored  :  so  our  people  in  time  of  peace, 
interfere  in  internal  affairs,  threaten  the  magistrates,  re- 
fuse submission  to  them,  denounce  them  and  provoke 
them  ;  yet  in  war  obey  them  as  they  would  a  king,  pre- 
ferring their  safety  to  the  indulgence  of  their  passions. 
Also  in  our  more  important  wars,  our  countrymen  have 
constantly  preferred  the  command  to  be  in  the  hands  of 
one,  without  any  colleague  ;  the  extent  of  whose  power 
is  indicated  by  his  name.  For  a  dictator  is  so  called 
on  account  of  every  thing  being  dictated  by  him.  But 
in  our  books,  Lajlius,  you  see  also  that  he  is  called 
master  of  the  people." 

L.  It  is  so.  "  Wisely  therefore  did  those  an- 
cients," said  Scipio      *         *         *         * 

[Two  pages  wanting.] 

XLI.  *  *  *  "When  a  people  is  deprived  of  a 
just  king,  as  Eqnius  says,  after  the  death  of  one  of  the 
best  of  kings, 

"  Long  were  tlieir  bosoms  moved  with  deep  regret ; 
Oft  they  together  call  upon  his  manes. 
Oh,  godlike  Romulus  !  the  bounteous  gods 


72  eiCERO's  REPUBI.IC. 

What  a  protector  did  they  give  in  thee  ? 

Oh  father,  parent,  blood  derived  from  hearen!" 

Those  whom  the  lervvs  enjoined  them  to  obey,  they  did 
not  call  lords  or  masters  ;  finally,  not  even  kings,  but 
guardians  of  the  country,  fathers  and  gods.  Ner  with- 
out cause,  for  what  is  added, 

"  Thou  broughtest  us  into  the  realms  of  light !" 

They  thought  that  life,  honour,  and  every  comfort  was 
given  to  them  by  the  justice  of  a  king.  And  the  same 
inclinations  would  have  remained  with  their  posterity,  if 
the  character  of  their  kings  had  not  changed.  But  you 
perceive  that  kind  of  government  was  ruined  by  the  in- 
justice of  one  man. 

L.  I  do  perceive  it,  and  I  am  desirous  of  know- 
ing the  course  of  these  changes,  not  only  in  our  own 
country,  but  in  all  governments. 

XLII.  "  It  will  be  for  you,"  said  Scipio,  "  when  I 
shall  have  given  my  opinion  of  that  kind  of  government 
which  I  prefer,  to  give  a  more  accurate  account  of  the 
mutations  in  governments  ;  although  I  do  not  think 
them  much  to  be  apprehended  in  the  form  I  am  inclined 
to.  But  a  regal  form  of  government  is  particularly 
and  most  certainly  exposed  to  change.  When  a  king 
begins  to  be  unjust,  that  form  of  government  perishes 
at  once.  The  tyrant  is,  at  the  same  time,  the  worst  of 
all  conditions  of  government,  and  the  nearest  to  the 
best.  "Whom,  if  the  better  class  have  overturned,  which 
for  the  most  part  happens,  the  commonwealth  possesses 


BOOK  I.  73 

that  second  class  of  the  three.  And  this  is  a  sort  of 
royalty  ;  a  paternal  government  of  the  principal  people, 
for  the  benefit  of  the  rest.  But  if  the  people  cast  out  or 
slay  the  tyrant ;  rejoicing  in  their  own  deed,  they  are 
more  moderate,  as  long  as  they  know  and  feel  the 
value  of  being  so,  in  their  endeavour  to  protect  the  com- 
monwealth constituted  by  themselves.  But  when  the 
populace  have  bent  their  force  against  a  just  king,  and 
have  stripped  him  of  his  kingdom  ;  or  even,  as  it  hap- 
pens very  often,  have  tasted  the  blood  of  the  better 
.class,  and  have  prostrated  the  whole  republic  in  their 
madness  ;  think  not  that  the  vexed  ocean  or  the  wildest 
conflagration,  can  be  more  easily  kept  down,  than  the 
unbridled  insolence  of  the  multitude. 

XLIII.  Then  is  produced  what  in  Plato  is  so  clearly 
described,  if  I  can  in  any  manner  express  it  in  Latin,  a  * 
thing  difficult  to  be  done,  but  I  will  endeavour.  "  It  is 
then,"  he  says,  "  when  the  insatiable  throats  of  the 
people,  parched  with  the  thirst  of  liberty,  and  led  on  by 
rash  demagogues,  have  greedily  drank,  not  temperate 
but  too  unalloyed  draughts  of  freedom.  Then  the  ma- 
gistrates and  chiefs,  unless  they  are  too  lenient  and 
indulgent,  permitting  them  every  excess  of  liberty  ;  are 
l)ursued,  impeached,  insulted,  and  called  oppressors, 
kings,  and  tyrants."  I  think  this  part  of  his  works  is 
known  to  you. 

L.     I  am  well  acquainted  with  it. 

S.     Then  follows,  "  Those  who  pay  obedience  to 

the  magistrates,  are  tormented  by  the  people,  are  called 

voluntary  slaves.     But  those  magistrates  who  affect  to 

be  on  an  equality  with  the  lowest ;  and  other  individuals 

8 


74  Cicero's  republic. 

who  strive  to  abolish  all  distinction  between  citizens 
and  magistrates,  are  exalted  with  praises,  and  over- 
whelmed with  honours.  And  in  this  condition  of  things, 
it  follows,  of  course,  that  there  is  an  unrestrained 
license  in  a  government  of  this  kind  ;  so  that  every  pri- 
vate family  is  without  any  government :  and  this  evil 
extends  even  to  the  beasts.  At  length  the  father  fears 
the  son — the  son  disregards  the  father :  every  sort  of 
decency  is  extinguished,  that  an  open  license  may  pre- 
vail. Nothing  distinguishes  the  citizen  from  the  stranger. 
The  master  pays  court  to  his  scholars,  that  he  may  be 
flattered  by  them.  Teachers  are  despised  by  their  dis- 
ciples. Young  persons  take  upon  themselves  the  au- 
thority of  aged  ones,  who  abase  themselves  to  mingle 
in  their  games,  lest  they  become  odious  and  burdensome 
to  them.  At  last  slaves  give  themselves  all  sorts  of 
liberties.  Wives  assume  the  privileges  of  their  hus- 
bands. Nay  the  dogs,  the  horses,  the  asses  at  length 
are  so  infected  with  liberty,  and  run  kicking  about  so, 
that  it  is  absolutely  necessary  to  get  out  of  their  way. 
Wherefore  from  this  infinite  license  these  things  result, 
that  the  minds  of  the  citizens  become  so  scornful  and 
impatient,  that  if  the  least  power  of  government  is  ex- 
ercised, they  become  exasperated  and  will  not  endure 
it;  whence  they  come  to  despise  every  kind  of  law, 
that  they  may  be  without  the  least  restraint  whatever." 

XLIV.  "  You  have,"  said  Laelius,  "  precisely  ex- 
pressed Plato's  sentiments." 

S.  Returning  therefore  to  the  subject  of  my  dis- 
course. "It  is  from  this  very  license,"  he  says, 
"  which  they  deem  to  be  liberty  itself,  that  a  tyrant 


BOOK  I.  75 

spiings  up  as  a  sapling  from  a  root.  For  as  the  de- 
struction of  the  better  class  arises  from  their  overween- 
ing power,  so  this  excess  of  liberty,  effects  the  slavery 
of  this  free  people.  Thus  all  extremes  of  an  agreeable 
nature,  whether  in  the  seasons,  or  in  the  fertility  of  the 
fields,  or  in  our  natural  feehngs,  are  often  converted  into 
their  opposites.  Especially  it  occurs  in  public  affairs, 
where  excess  of  liberty  degenerates  into  public  and 
individual  slavery.  Out  of  such  licentious  freedom  a 
tyrant  arises,  and  the  most  unjust  and  severe  bondage. 
For  by  a  people  so  untameable,  or  rather  so  outrageous, 
some  leader  is  chosen  out  of  the  multitude,  in  opposi- 
tion to  the  better  class,  now  persecuted  and  driven  from 
their  offices  :  bold  and  dishonest,  perversely  persecuting 
those  who  have  frequently  deserved  well  of  their  country, 
and  gratifying  the  people  from  his  own  means  and  from 
those  of  others.  To  w  hom,  that  he  may  be  freed  from  all 
apprehensions  on  account  of  his  private  condition,  au- 
thority is  given  and  continued  to  him.  Surrounded  too 
by  guards,  as  was  the  case  with  Pisistratus  at  Athens, 
at  length  he  becomes  the  tyrant  of  the  very  citizens 
who  brought  him  forward.  Who,  if  he  is  subdued  by 
the  good,  as  often  happens,  the  state  is  regenerated. 
If  by  the  bad,  then  a  faction  is  estabhshed,  another  kind 
of  tyranny.  The  same  state  of  things  too  frequently 
occurs  in  that  goodly  form  of  government  of  the  better 
'class,  when  the  vices  of  the  chiefs  have  caused  them  to 
deviate  from  their  integrity.  Thus  do  they  snatch  the 
government  of  the  commonwealth  from  each  other  like 
a  ball — tyrants  from  kings — chiefs  or  the  people  from 


76  CICERO's  REPUBLIC. 

tyrants ;  and  factions  or  tyrants  from  them,  nor  does 
the  same  mode  of  government  ever  last  a  long  time. 

XLV.  These  things  being  so,  the  rjegal  form  of 
government  is  in  my  opinion  much  to  be  preferred  of 
those  three  kinds.  Nevertheless  one  which  shall  be 
well  tempered  and  balanced  out  of  all  those  three  kinds 
5  of  government,  is  better  than  that ;  yet  there  should  be 
I  always  something  royal  and  pre-eminent  in  a  govern- 
j  ment,  at  the  same  time  that  some  power  should  be  pla- 
l  ced  in  the  hands  of  the  better  class,  and  other  things 
reserved  for  the  judgment  and  will  of  the  multitude. 
Now  we  are  struck  first  with  the  great  equability  of  such 
a  constitution,  without  which  a  people  cannot  be  free 
long  ;  next  with  its  stability.  The  three  other  kinds  of 
government  easily  fall  into  the  contrary  extremes  :  as  a 
master  grows  out  of  a  king ;  factions  from  the  better 
class  ;  and  mobs  and  confusion  from  the  people.  The 
changes  too  are  perpetual  which  are  taking  place.  This 
cannot  well  happen  in  such  a  combined  and  moderately 
balanced  government,  unless  by  the  great  vices  of  the 
chief  persons.  For  there  is  no  cause  for  change, 
where  every  one  is  firmly  placed  in  his  proper  station, 
and  never  gives  way,  whatever  may  fall  down  or  be  dis- 
placed. 

XLVI.  But  I  am  afraid,  Lselius,  and  you  too  my  very 
discreet  and  respected  friends,  if  I  continue  long  in  this 
strain,  my  discourse  will  appear  more  like  that  of  a 
master  or  teacher  to  you,  than  as  a  conversation  with 
you.  Wherefore  I  will  speak  of  matters  known  to  us 
all,  and  which  we  have  all  inquired  into  long  ago.  iFor 
I  am  convinced,  and  believe,  and  declare,  that  no  kind 


BOOK  I.  77 

of  government,  either  in  the  constitution,  the  planning, 
or  the  practice,  is  to  be  compared  with  that  which  our 
Jathers  have  left  to  us,  and  which  was  adopted  by  our 
ancestors.  Which  if  you  please,  since  you  have  been 
desirous  that  I  should  repeat  things  known  to  your- 
selves, I  will  shew  not  only  what  it  is,  but  that  it  is  the 
best.  And  with  our  own  government  in  view,  I  will  if 
I  can,  have  a  reference  to  it,  in  whatever  I  may  say  re- 
ispecting  the  best  form  of  government.  The  which  if 
I  can  follow  up  and  effect,  I  shall,  as  I  think,  amply 
fulfil  the  task  which  Laelius  has  imposed  on  me. 

XLVII.  "  It  is  your  task  indeed,  Scipio,"  said  Lae- 
lius, "  most  truly  yours.  For  who  in  preference  to 
yourself  may  speak  of  the  institutions  of  our  forefa- 
thers ;  you  being  sprung  from  such  illustrious  ancestors  ; 
or  of  the  best  form  of  government.  The  which  if  we 
now  possess  it,  would  hardly  be  so,  if  any  one  stood  in 
a  more  conspicuous  situation  than  yourself.  Or  who 
may  venture  to  advise  measures  for  posterity,  when 
thou,  having  delivered  the  city  from  its  greatest  terrors, 
hast  foreseen  for  the  latest  times  ?-' 


S* 


CICERO^S  REPUBLIC. 


BOOK  II. 

I.  Perceiving  them  all  now  eager  to  listen  to  him, 
Scipio  thus  began  to  speak.  "  It  was  old  Cato,  to 
whom  as  you  know  I  was  singularly  attached,  and  whom 
I  admired  in  the  highest  degree  :  to  whom,  either 
through  the  advice  of  both  my  parents,  or  from  my  own 
prepossession,  I  devoted  myself  entirely  from  my  youth  : 
whose  conversation  never  could  satiate  me.  Such  was 
the  experience  of  the  man  in  public  affairs,  which  he 
•  had  for  a  long  time  successfully  conducted  in  peace  and 
war.  His  manner  of  speaking  too,  a  facetiousness 
mixed  with  gravity  :  his  constant  desire  also  to  improve 
himself  and  others  ;  indeed  his  whole  life  in  harmony 
with  his  maxims.  He  was  wont  to  say,  that  the  condi- 
tion of  our  country  was  pre-eminent  above  all  others 
for  this  cause.  That  among  other  people,  individuals 
generally  had  respectively  constituted  the  government 
by  their  laws  and  by  their  institutes,  as  Minos  in  Crete, 
Lycurgus  in  Lacedemon.  At  Athens,  where  the 
changes  were  frequent,  at  first  Theseus,  then  Draco, 
then  Solon,  then  CUsthenes ;  afterwards  many  others. 
Finally  exhausted  and  prostrated,  it  had  been  upheld  by 


80  CiCERO's  REPUBLIC. 

that  learned  man  Demetrius,  of  Phalera.  But  that  the 
constitution  of  our  repubhc  was  not  the  work  of  one, 
but  of  many ;  and  had  not  been  established  in  the  life  of 
one  man,  but  during  several  generations  and  ages. 
For  he  said  so  powerful  a  mind  had  never  existed  ;  from 
which  nothing  had  escaped  ;  nor  that  all  minds  collected 
into  one,  could  foresee  so  much  at  one  time,  as  to  com- 
prehend all  things  without  the  aid  of  practice  and  time. 
For  which  reason,  as  he  was  wont,  so  shall  my  discourse 
now  repeat  the  o£J^pof  the  people  ;  for  I  have  a  plea- 
sure in  using  the  very  words  of  Cato.  But  I  shall 
more  easily  follow  up  my  proposition  in  describing  our 
own  republic  to  you,  in  its  infancy,  its  growth,  in  its 
adult,  and  its  present  firm  and  robust  state ;  than  if  I 
were  to  create  an  imaginary  one,  as  Socrates  is  made  to 
do  in  Plato. 

II.  When  all  had  approved  of  this,  he  proceeded. 
"  What  beginning,  therefore,  have  we  of  the  establish- 
ment of  a  republic  so  illustrious  and  so  known  to  you 
all,  as  the  origin  of  the  building  of  this  city  by  Romu- 
lus, born  of  his  father  Mars  ?  For  let  us  concede  to 
the  common  opinion  of  men,  especially  as  it  is  not  only 
well  established,  but  also  wisely  recorded  by  our  ances- 
tors, that  those  who  have  deserved  well  of  us  on  ac- 
count of  our  common  interest,  be  deemed  not  only  to 
have  possessed  a  divine  genius,  but  also  a  divine  origin. 
He  therefore  after  his  birth,  with  Remus  his  brother,  is 
said  to  have  been  ordered  to  be  exposed  on  the  Tiber, 
by  the  Alban  king,  Amulius,  apprehensive  lest  his  king- 
dom should  be  shaken.  In  which  place,  having  been 
sustained  by  the  teats  of  a  wild  beast,  the  shepherds 


BOOK  11. 


81 


took  him,  and  brought  him  up  in  the  labour  and  cultiva- 
tion of  the  fields.  It  is  said,  that  when  he  had  grown 
up,  he  was  distinguished  above  the  rest  by  his  corporeal 
strength,  and  the  daringness  of  his  mmd.  So  that  all 
who  then  inhabited  the  fields,  where  at  this  day  stands 
the  city,  obeyed  him  willingly  and  without  dissent. 
And  being  constituted  their  leader,  that  we  may  now 
come  from  fables  to  facts,  with  a  strong  force  he  took 
Alba-longa,  a  powerful  and  well  constructed  city  in 
those  times,  and  put  the  king  x\mulius  to  death.  __ 

III.     Having  acquired  which  glory,  he  is  said  first  to  ^ , 
have  auspiciously  thought  of  building  a  city,  and  of  es-  i^^ 
tablishing  a  government.     In  regard  to  the  situation  of-    t^ 
the  city,  a  circumstance  which  is  most  carefully  to  be      ^^ 
considered  by  him,  who  endeavours  to  establish  a  per- 
manent government ;  he  chose  it  with  incredible  skill. 
For  neither  did  he  remove  to  the  sea,  although  it  was  a 
very  easy  thing  for  him  with  his  forces,  to  march  through 
the  territory  of  the  Rutulians  and  Aborigines  ;  neither^ 
would  he  build  a  city  at  the  mouth  of  the  Tiber,  to  which 
place  the  king  Ancus  led  a  colony  many  years  after. 
For  he  perceived,  with  an  admirable  foresight,  that  mari- 
time situations  were  not  proper  for  those  cities  which 
were  founded  in  the  hope  of  continuance,  or  with  a 
view  to  empire.     First,  because  maritime  towns  were 
not  only  exposed  to  many  dangers,  but  to  unseen  ones. 
For  the  ground  over  which  an  expected  enemy  moves, 
as  well  as  an  unexpected  one,  announces  his  approach 
beforehand  by  many  indications :  by  sound  itself  of  a 
pecuharly  tumultuous  kind.     No  enemy  can  make  a 
march,  however  forced,  without  our  not  only  knowing 


82  ClCERO's  REPUBLIC.' 

him  to  be  there,  but  even  who  he  is,  and  whence  he 
comes.  But  a  maritime  enemy  and  a  naval  force  may 
be  before  you,  ere  any  one  can  suspect  him  to  be  come. 
Nor  even  when  he  does  come,  does  he  carry  before  him 
any  indication  of  who  he  is,  or  from  whence  he  comes, 
or  even  what  he  wants.  Finally  by  no  kind  of  sign 
can  it  be  discerned  or  determined  whether  he  is  a  friend 
or  an  enemy. 

IV.  In  maritime  cities,  too,  a  sort  of  debasing  and 
changeable  manners  prevail.  New  languages  and  new 
customs  are  mingled  together,  and  not  only  productions 
but  manners  are  imported  from  abroad  ;  so  that  nothing 
remains  entire  of  the  pristine  institutions.  Even  they 
who  inhabit  those  cities  are  not  faithful  to  their  homes, 
but  with  capricious  inclinations  and  longings  are  carried 
far  from  them  ;  and  although  their  persons  remain,  their 
minds  are  rambling  and  wandering  abroad.  Nor  did 
Carthage  or  Corinth,  long  before  shaken,  owe  their  ruin 
to  any  thing  more  than  to  the  unsettled  scattering  of  the 
citizens,  who  abandoned  the  study  of  agricultiiTe  and 
arms  through  their  cupidity  of  gain  and  love  of  roam- 
ing. Many  pernicious  excitements  too  to  I^uxury,  are 
brought  over  the  sea  to  cities  by  commercial  importa- 
tion or  by  conquest.  Even  the  very  amenity  of  the 
situation  suggests  many  costly  and  enervating  allure- 
ments. What  [  have  said  of  Corinth,  I  know  not  if  I 
may  as  truly  say  of  all  Greece ;  for  almost  all  Pelopon- 
nessus  lies  on  the  sea,  and  except  the  Phliuntians, 
there  are  none  whose  lands  do  not  extend  to  the  coast. 
Beyond  Peloponnessus,  the  Enianes,  the  Dorians,  and 
the  Dolopians    are  the  only   people  in  the  interior. 


BOOK  II.  83 

What  shall  I  say  of  the  islands  of  Greece  ?  which  sur- 
rounded with  billows,  float  about  as  it  were  with  the 
institutions  and  manners  of  their  cities.  These  things 
as  I  said  before,  relate  to  ancient  Greece ;  but  of  the 
colonies  brought  by  the  Greeks  into  x\sia,  Thrace, 
Italy,  Sicily,  and  Africa,  except  Magnesia  alone,  which 
of  them  is  not  washed  by  the  ocean  ?  Thus  a  part  of 
the  Grecian  shores  seemed  to  be  joined  to  the  lands  of 
the  barbarians.  For  among  the  barbarians  themselves, 
none  were  a  maritime  people,  except  the  Etruscans 
and  the  Carthagenians ;  the  one  for  the  sake  of  com- 
merce, the  other  for  the  sake  of  piracy.  A  most  obvi- 
ous cause  of  the  evils  and  revolutions  of  Greece,  arising 
from  the  vices  of  these  maritime  cities,  which  awhile 
ago  I  slightly  touched  upon.  Nevertheless  among 
these  evils  there  is  a  great  convenience.  The  products 
of  every  distant  nation  can  be  wafted  to  the  city  you  in- 
habit ;  and  in  return  the  productions  of  your  own 
lands  can  be  sent  or  carried  into  whatever  countries  you 
choose. 

V.  Who  then  more  inspiredly  than  Romulus  could 
secure  all  the  maritime  conveniences,  and  avoid  all  the 
defects  ?  placing  the  city  on  the  banks  of  a  perennial 
river,  broadly  flowing  with  an  equal  course  to  the  sea. 
By  which  the  city  might  receive  what  it  wanted  from  the 
ocean,  and  return  whatever  was  superfluous.  Receiving 
by  the  same  channel  all  things  essential  to  the  wants 
and  the  refinements  of  life,  not  only  from  the  sea,  but 
likewise  from  the  interior.  So  that  it  appears  to  me,  he 
had  foreseen  this  city,  at  some  period,  would  be  the  seat 
and  capital  of  a  mighty  empire :  for  a  city  placed  in 


84  CICERO's   REPUBLIC. 

any  other  part  of  Italy  would  not  easily  have  been  able 
to  acquire  such  a  powerful  influence. 

VI.  As  to  the  native  defences  of  the  city,  who  is  so 
unobservant  as  not  to  have  them  marked  and  fixed  in 
his  mind?  Such  is  the  alignment  and  direction  of 
the  wall,  which  by  the  wisdom  of  Romulus,  as  well  of 
succeeding  kings,  was  bounded  on  every  part  by  lofty 
and  craggy  hills  :  so  that  the  only  entrance,  which  was 
between  the  Esquiline  and  the  Quirinal  hills,  was  de- 
fended by  a  huge  mound,  and  a  very  wide  ditch.  The 
citadel,  surrounded  by  this  craggy  and  seemingly  hewn 
rock,  had  such  a  gallant  position,  that  in  that  furious  iur 
vasion  of  the  terrible  Gauls,  it  remained  safe  and  intact. 
He  choose  also  a  place  abounding  in  springs,  and  salu- 
brious even  in  a  pestilent  region.  For  there  are  hills 
which  while  they  enjoy  the  breezes,  at  the  same  time 
throw  a  cool  shade  upon  the  vallies. 

VII.  These  things  were  done  too  with  great  cele- 
rity. For  he  not  only  founded  a  city,  which  he  ordered 
to  be  called  Rome,  from  his  own  name  ;  but  to  establish 
it,  and  strengthen  the  power  of  the  people  and  his  king- 
dom, he  adopted  a  strange  and  somewhat  clownish  plan, 
but  worthy  of  a  great  man,  whose  providence  extended 
far  into  futurity.  When  the  Sabine  virgins,  descended 
from  respectable  families,  were  come  to  Rome  to  see 
the  ganies,  whose  first  anniversary  he  had  then  ordered 
to  be  celebrated  in  the  circus,  he  ordered  them  to  be 
seized  during  the  sports,  and  gave  them  in  marriage  to 
the  most  honourable  families.  For  which  cause,  when 
the  Sabines  had  made  war  upon  the  Romans,  and  when 
the  success  of  the  battle  was  various  and  doubtful,  he 


BOOK  II.  85 

struck  a  league  with  Tatius,  king  of  the  Sabines,  at  the 
entreaty  of  the  very  matrons  who  had  been  seized  :  in 
consequence  of  which  he  admitted  the  Sabines  into  the 
city  :  and  mutnallv  having  embraced  each  others  sacred 
rites,  he  associated  their  king  with  him  in  the  government. 

VIII.  After  the  death  however  of  Tatius,  all  the 
power  came  back  into  his  hands :  although  he  had 
admitted  some  chiefs  into  the  royal  council  with  Ta- 
tius, who  were  called  fathers,  on  account  of  the  affection 
borne  to  them.  He  also  divided  the  people  intojtln:ge 
tribes,  named  after  himself,  after  Tatius,  and  after  Lu- 
cumon,  a  companion  of  Romulus,  who  had  been  slain 
in  the  Sabine  war  :  and  into  tbirtv  curia,  which  curia  he 
called  by  the  names  of  those  from  among  the  Sabine 
virffins  seized,  at  whose  entreaties  the  peace  and  league 
had  been  formed.  But  although  these  things  were  done 
before  the  death  of  Tatius,  yet  after  that  event,  his 
government  became  much  better  established,  aided  by 
the  authority  and  counsel  of  the  fathers. 

IX.  In  the  which  he  saw  and  judged  as  Lycurgus 
at  Sparta  had  done,  a  little  while  before  him :  that 
states  were  better  governed  by  individual  command  and, 
royal  power,  if  the  authority  of  some  of  the  better  class) 
were  added  to  the  energy  of  that  kind  of  government.'' 
Thus  sustained,  and  as  it  were  propped  up  by  the  «enato-* 
rial  authority,  he  carried  on  many  wars  very  successfully 
with  his  neighbours  ;  and  appropriating  to  himself  no 
part  of  the  spoil,  he  never  ceased  to  enrich  the  citizens. 
At  that  time  Romulus  paid  in  most  things  attention  to 
itus{iiiigs,  a  custom  we  still  retain,  and  greatly  advan- 
tageous to  the  republic.     For  he  built  the  city  under 

9 


36  CICERO's  REPUBLIC. 

the  observance  of  auspices  at  the  very  beginning  of  th© 
republic  ;  and  in  the  estabHshment  of  ail  public  affairs, 
he  chose  an  augur  from  each  of  the  tribes  to  assist  him 
in  the  auspices.  He  also  had  the  common  people 
assigned  as  ^jligjjts  to  the  principal  men,  the  utihty  of 
which  measure  I  will  afterwards  consider.  Fines  were 
paid  in  sheep  and  cattle  :  for  then  all  property  consisted 
in  flocks,  and  in  possessions  of  lands,  whence  the  terms 
pecuniary*  and  landholders!  were  derived.  He  did  not 
attempt  to  govern  by  severity  or  the  infliction  of  punish- 
ments. 

X.  When  Romulus  had  reigned  thirty-seven  years, 
and  had  established  those  two  excellent  foundations  of 
f  the  state,  the  auspices  and  the  §enate,  he  obtained  this 
great  meed :  for  when  he  had  disappeared  upon  a  sud- 
den obscuration  of  the  sun,  he  was  deemed  to  have 
been  placed  among  the  number  of  the  gods.  A  behef 
which  no  mortal  had  ever  inspired  without  the  greatest 
pre-eminence  in  virtue.  And  this  is  most  to  be  admired 
in  Romulus,  that  others  who  are  said  to  have  been  dei- 
fied out  of  the  mortal  state,  lived  in  the  less  civilized 
ages  of  man,  when  the  proneness  to  fiction  was  great, 
and  the  unenlightened  were  easily  led  to  believe  in  it. 
But  during  the  period  of  Romulus,  not  quite  six  hundred 
years  ago,  we  know  that  learning  and  literature  existed, 
and  that  the  ancient  errors  peculiar  to  the  uncultivated 
ages  of  mankind  were  removed.  For  if  Rome,  accord- 
ing to  an  investigation  of  the  annals  of  the  Greeks,  was 
built  in  the  second  year  of  the  seventh  olympiad  ;  the 
reign  of  Romulus  occurred  at  that  period  when  GreeQ^ 

♦  Pecuniosi.  f  Locuplctes. 


BboK  II.  '        87 

was  full  of  poets  and  musicians ;  and  when  but  little 
faith  would  be  given  to  fabulous  stories,  unless  they 
were  concerning  very  ancient  things.  For  one  hun- 
dred and  eight  years  after  Lycurgus  ordained  laws  to 
be  written,  the  first  olympiad  was  established  :  which 
through  a  mistake  in  the  name,  some  have  thought  to 
be  founded  by  Lycurgus.  Homer,  however,  by  those 
who  take  the  lowest  period,  is  made  to  precede  Lycur- 
gus about  thirty  years.  From  which  it  may  be  gathered 
that  Homer  flourished  many  years  before  Romulus. 
So  that  there  was  scarce  room  in  so  intelligent  an  age, 
and  amid  so  many  learned  men,  for  any  one  to  establish 
fictions.  Antiquity  sometimes  has  received  fables 
crudely  devised,  but  that  age  already  refined,  and  espe- 
cially deriding  improbable  events,  has  rejected  *  ^  * 

[About  230  letters  wanting.] 

*  *  *  *  Simonides  was  born  in  the 
fifty-sixth  olympiad,  by  which  the  credit  given  to  the 
immortality  of  Romulus  may  be  more  easily  under- 
stood, seeing  that  the  institutions  of  society  were  then 
so  well  established,  organized,  and  known.  But  really 
so  great  was  the  force  of  his  genius  and  virtue,  that 
what  men  would  have  given  no  credit  to  fiir  many  ages 
in  favour  of  any  other  man,  was  believed  of  Romulus 
upon  the  evidence  of  Proculus  Julius,  a  countryman, 
who  at  the  instigation  of  the  fathers,  in  order  to  repel 
from  themselves  every  suspicion  of  the  death  of  Rom- 
ulus, is  said  to  have  declared  in  the  assembly,  that  he 
had  seen  Romulus  on  that  mount  which  is  now  called 


88  CICERO's  REPUBLIC. 

Quirinal ;  and  that  he  had  commanded  him  to  request^ 
the  people  to  erect  a  temple  for  him  upon  that  hill ;  that 
he  was  a  god,  and  was  called  Quirinus. 

XI.  "  Do  not  you  perceive  therefore  a  new  people 
not  only  sprung  from  the  wisdom  of  one  man,  and  not 
left  crying  in  leading  strings,  but  already  grown  up,  and 
almost  an  adult?"  ** Indeed  we  perceive  it,"  said  Lae- 
lius,  *'  and  that  you  have  entered  upon  a  new  method  oT 
discussion,  which  is  no  where  to  be  found  in  the  wri- 
tings of  the  Greeks.  For  that  pre-eminent  person,* 
whom  no  one  has  excelled  in  writing,  has  imagined  to 
himself  a  situation,  in  which  he  might  construct  his 
city  after  his  own  pleasure  :  admirable  enough  perhaps, 
but  foreign  to  the  conduct  and  the  manners  of  men. 
Others  have  discussed  the  subject  in  relation  to  the 
kinds  and  causes  of  governments,  but  not  under  any 
particular  example  of  a  form  of  government.  You 
seem  to  me  to  be  about  to  do  both,  for  according  to 
your  method,  you  appear  to  prefer  to  attribute  to  others 
what  you  yourself  have  observed,  than  to  imagine  a 
^  state  of  things,  as  Socrates  is,  made  to  do  in  Plato. 
And  these  matters  respecting  the  foundation  of  the 
city,  you  suppose  to  be  part  of  a  system,  which  were 
only  adopted  by  Romulus  through  necessity  or  chance. 
And  your  discourse  is  not  of  a  desultory  kind,  but  con- 
cerning a  particular  commonwealth.  Wherefore  pro- 
ceed as  you  have  begun,  for  already  I  perceive  you  are 
about  to  follow  on  with  the  other  kings,  as  perfecting 
the  government."  ^ 

XII.     "  Wherefore,"  said  Scipio,  "  whed  the  senate, 

♦  Plato. 


BOOK  II.  89 

which  Romulus  had  instituted  out  of  the  better  class, 
and  which  had  been  so  much  favoured  by  the  king,  as  to 
cause  them  to  be  called  fathers,  and  their  children  pa- 
tricians ;  endeavoured  after  the  death  of  Romulus,  to 
carry  on  the  government  itself  without  any  king ;  the 
people  would  not  endure  it,  and  in  their  regret  for  Rom- 
ulus did  not  cease  to  demand  a  king.  Upon  which  the 
leading  men  prudently  imagined  a  mode  of  interregnum, 
new  and  unknown  to  other  nations.  So  that  until  a 
regular  king  was  proclaimed,  neither  the  city  should  be 
without  a  king,  nor  with  one  too  long  a  period.  Fear- 
ing lest  from  too  long  an  enjoyment  of  the  government, 
the  interrex  should  be  reluctant  to  lay  it  down,  or  strong 
enough  to  maintain  himself  in  it.  Even  in  these  times, 
this  new  people  perceived  what  had  escaped  the  Lace- 
demonian Lycurgus  ;  who  esteemed  it  best  not  to 
choose  a  king,  if  this  were  indeed  in  the  power  of  Ly- 
curgus to  do,  but  rather  to  be  governed  by  any  one 
whatever  descended  from  the  race  of  Hercules.  But 
our  ancestors,  rude  as  they  appear  to  have  been,  thought 
it  behoved  them  rathei:  to  look  to  royal  wisdom  and  vir- 
tue, than  to  descent. 

XIII.  When  the  great  fame  of  Numa  Porapilius 
had  reached  them,  the  people,  leaving  aside  their* own 
citizens,  called  in  by  the  authority  of  the  fathers,  a  king 
not  born  among  them,  and  sent  to  the  Curians  for  a 
Sabine  to  reign  over  Rome.  When  he  arrived,  although 
the  people  had  decided  that  he  should  be  king  in  the 
conventions  of  the  curia,  nevertheless  he  himself  had  a 
law  passed  in  the  curia  concerning  his  own  power ;  and 
as  he  saw  the  Romans  through  the  institutions  of  Rom- 
9* 


90  CICERO'S  REPUBLIC. 

ulus  were  eager  after  warlike  pursuits,  he  deemed  it 
proper  to  wean  them  somewhat  from  that  propensity. 

XIV.  And  first,  the  lands  which  Romulus  had  ac- 
quired in  war,  he  divided  -e€|ually  among  the  citizens  ; 
and  pointed  out  to  them,  that  without  depopulating  and 
pillaging,  they  might  possess  all  the  necessaries  of  life, 
by  the  ciiJI^Kation  of  their  lands.  He  inspired  them 
Wso  with  the  love  of  peace  and  repose,  under  which  jus- 
tice-and  good  faith  most  kindly  flourish  ;  and  under  the 
protection  of  which,  the  cultivation  of  the  iields,  and 
the  gathering  of  the  harvest  are  most  secure.  The 
same  Pompilius  having  established  auspices  of  a  supe- 
rior kind,  added  two  augurs  to  the  ancient  number,  and 
placed  five  priests  over  sacred  things  from  the  class  of 
the  chief  men.  And  having  established  those  laws 
which  we  possess  in  our  monuments,  he  softened,  by  the 
cereflacmieajatxeligion,  minds  which  were  inflamed  by 
the  habit  and  inclination  of  making  war.  He  added 
also  Flamens,  Salii,  and  Vestal  Virgins ;  and  esta- 
blished with  great  solemnity  all  the  branches  of  reli- 
gion :  ordaining  many  ceremonies  to  be  learnt  and  ob- 
served, but  without  any  expense.  Thus  he  increased 
the  duty  of  rehgious  observances  and  diminished  the 
cost  of  them.  In  like  manner  he  established  markets, 
games,  and  all  the  stated  occasions  of  assembling  the 
people  together.  Under  which  iqg^utions,  he  recalled 
the  minds  of  men  become  fierce  and  wild  in  warlike^ 
pursuits,  to  humanity  and  gentleness.  When  he  had 
reigned  thirty-nine  years  in  the  most  perfect  peace  and 
concord,  (in  this  we  follow  principally  our  friend  Poly- 
bius,  than  whom  no  one  was  more  accurate  in  ascer- 


BOOK  It, 


91 


strength-    / 
3rnment,*  J 

<3mpnpv.    ' 


taining  periods,)  he  departed  from  life  ;  having  st 
ened  every  thing  for  the  endurance  of  the  government, 
by  those  two  conspicuous  virtues,  roiigi^a  and  clejtxifilicy. 
XV.  When  Scipio  had  spoken  these  words.  "  Is  it 
true,  Africanus,"  said  ManiUus,  *'  what  tradition  has 
brought  down  to  us,  that  this  king  Numa  was  a  disci- 
ple of  Pythagoras,  or  is  it  certain  he  was  a  Pythago- 
rean ?  For  often  we  have  heard  this,  as  having  been  de- 
clared by  old  people,  and  understand  it  also  to  be  the 
common  opinion ;  yet  we  do  not  see  it  sufficiently 
proved  by  the  authority  of  the  public  annals."  "  It  is 
false,"  replied  Scipio,  "  entirely  so  ManiUus  !  Not  false 
alone,  but  ignorantly  and  absurdly  false  ;  for  the  men- 
dacity of  those  assertions  is  not  to  be  endured,  which 
we  not  only  see  are  not  true,  but  which  could  never 
have  been  so.  It  was  in  the  fourth  year  of  the  reign  of 
Lucius  Tarquinius  Superbus,  that  Pythagoras  is  ascer- 
tained to  have  come  to  Sybaris  and  Crotona,  and  those 
parts  of  Italy.  For  the  sixty-second  Olympiad  an- 
nounces that  very  arrival  of  Pythagoras,  and  the  begin- 
ning of  the  reign  of  Superbus.  From  which  it  may  be 
understood  by  a  calculation  of  the  reigns,  that  Pytha- 
goras touched  first  at  Italy  about  a  hundred  and  forty 
years  after  the  death  of  Numa.  Nor  has  'this  fact,  by 
those  who  have  very  diligently  investigated  the  annals  of 
the  times,  ever  been  thrown  into  any  doubt."  "  Immor- 
tal gods,"  said  ManiUus,  "  how  inveterate  and  great  is 
the  error  of  men  !  Nevertheless,  I  can  be  very  well 
pleased  in  the  belief,  that  our  intelligence  has  not  been 
derived  from  abroad,  and  through  foreign  arts,  but  from 
natural  and  domestic  virtues." 


92  CICERo's  REPUBLIC. 

XVI.  "  You  will  distinguish  that  more  clearly,"  said 
Africanus,  "  when  you  perceive  how  the  commonwealth 
advances  and  comes  to  the  greatest  perfection  by  a 
straight  forward  and  natural  course.  For  in  this  also 
the  wisdom  of  our  ancestors  is  to  be  praised ;  that 
many  things  derived  from  abroad,  have  been  rendered 
much  more  perfect  by  us,  than  they  were  from  whence 
they  were  brought,  and  where  they  first  had  existence. 
You  will  see  also  that  the  greatness  of  the  Roman  peo- 
ple has  not  been  confirmed  by  chance,  but  by  wisdom 
and  discipline.      Fortune  indeed  being  propitious  to  us. 

XVII.  King  Pompihus  being  dead,  the  people  upon 
the  proposition  of  an  interrex,  created  TuUus  Hostilius 
king,  in  the  conventions  of  the  curia  ;  and  he,  after  the 
example  of  Pompilius,  consulted  the  people  in  the  curia, 
concerning  his  power.  His  military  glory  was  great,  and 
important  warlike  affairs  took  place.  He  constructed 
edifices  for  the  senate  and  the  curia,  and  surrounded 
them  with  military  trophies.  He  established  a  law  also 
for  the  declaration  of  war,  which  most  justly  decreed  by 
him,  he  made  more  sacred  by  the  solemnity  of  Heralds  : 
so  that  every  war  which  was  not  proclaimed  and  de- 
clared, was  deemed  to  be  impious  and  unjust.  And 
observe  how  wisely  our  kings  saw  that  some  sort  of  de* 
ference  must  be  paid  to  the  people.  1  might  say  many 
things  on  that  head.  Tullus  indeed  did  not  venture  to 
appear  with  royal  insignia  unless  at  the  command  of  the 
people.  For  in  order  that  it  might  be  lawful  for  him  to 
be  preceded  by  twelve  lictors  with  their  fasces    *    * 

[Two  pages  wanting.] 


I 


BOOK  II.  93 

XVIII.  *****  "The government  which 
your  discourse  is  establishing,  does  not  creep,  but  rather 
-teies  towards  perfection."     S.  "  After  him,  Ancus  Mar- 

tius,  grandson  to  Numa  PompiHus  by  his  daughter,  was 
made  king  by  the  people,  who  had  his  elevation  sanction- 
ed by  a  law  of  the  curia.  Who  having  conquered  the 
Latins  in  a  war,  incorporated  them  into  the  state.  He 
also  added  the  Aventme  and  Caelian  Mounts  to  the  city. 
The  lands  too  which  he  had  conquered  he  distributed, 
and  made  a  public  domam  of  all  the  forests  he  had  taken 
on  the  sea  coast.  He  built  a  city  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Tiber,  and  planted  a  colony  there.  When  he  had  thus 
reigned  twenty-three  years,  he  died.  "  This  king  also 
is  to  be  praised,"  said  Laelius,  *'but  the  Roman  history 
is  obscure :  for  although  we  know  who  was  the  mother 
of  this  king,  we  do  not  know  who  was  his  father." 
S.  "  So  it  is"  said  he,  '•  but  generally  the  names  of  the 
kings  only  of  those  times  are  conspicuous." 

XIX.  "  But  it  is  here  that  we  first  perceive  the  city 
to  have  become  more  intelligent  by  extrinsic  informa- 
tion. For  not  a  gentle  stream  flowed  from  Greece  into 
this  city,  but  an  abundant  flood  of  arts  and  knowledge. 
It  is  stated  that  me  Oemaratus,  a  Corinthian,  a  principal 
man,  and  of  much  honour  and  authority  in  his  own  city, 
and  of  an  easy  fortune,  not  being  able  to  endure 
Cypselus,  the  tyrant  of  the  Corinthians,  fled  with  a 
great  deal  of  money,  and  betook  himself  to  a  flourishing 
city  of  Etruria,  among  the  rarquinians.  When  he  had 
heard  that  the  domination  of  Cypselus  was  confirmed, 
being  an  independent  and  powerful  man,  he  renounced 
his  country,  and  was  received  a  citizen  by  the  Tarquini- 


94  CICERo's  REPUBLIC. 

ans  :  and  in  that  city  he  fixed  his  home  and  establish- 
ment. Where  when  he  had  begotten  two  sons  from  one 
of  the  Tarquinian  matrons,  he  instructed  them  in  all  the 
arts  after  the  manner  of  the  Greeks      *      *      *      * 


[Two  pages  wanting.]  ^ 

XX.  *****  He  was  well  received  in  the 
city,  and  became  intimate  with  king  Ancus  on  account 
of  his  learning  and  liberal  knowledge.  So  much  so 
that  he  shared  all  his  counsels,  and  might  be  deemed 
even  a  partner  in  his  kingdom.  For  there  was  a  great 
affability  in  him,  and  an  extreme  readiness  in  aiding, 
protecting,  and  doing  liberal  acts  to  every  citizen.  Mar- 
tius  therefore  being  dead,  L.  Tarquinius  was  created  kmg 
by  the  united  suffrages  of  the  people  ;  for  thus  he  had 
changed  his  name  from  his  Grecian  one,  that  in  every 
thing  he  might  be  seen  to  imitate  the  manners  of  the 
people.  Having  caused  his  accession  to  be  confirmed 
by  a  law,  he  doubled  the  pristine  number  of  the  fathers  ; 
calling  those  whose  opinions  he  first  asked,  ancient 
fathers  of  the  greater  families  ;  and  those  whom  he  had 
admitted,  he  called  the  lesser  families.  Then  he  es- 
tablished the  knights  ;  after  the  manner  that  has  ob- 
tained unto  our  day.  He  could  not  change  the  names 
of  the  Titienses,  of  the  Rhamnensians,  or  the  Luceres, 
when  he  wished  to  do  so  ;  because  Attus  Nsevius  being 
then  Augur  in  great  reputation,  would  not  consent  to  it. 
We  see  the  Corinthians  chose  formerly  to  assign  cavalry 
for  the  public  service,  and  to  have  their  expenses  de- 
frayed by  taxes  on  orphans  and  widows.     But  to  the 


BOOK  n*  95 

old  troops  of  horse  he  added  others,  and  made  twelve, 
hundred  knights.  He  doubled  this  number  after  he  had 
subdued  the  Equi  in  war,  a  powerful  and  ferocious  race, 
which  threatened  the  affairs  of  the  Roman  people.  And 
when  he  had  driven  the  Sabines  from  the  walls  of  the 
city,  he  scattered  them  with  his  horse  and  conquered 
them.  It  is  he  whom  we  understand  to  have  instituted 
the  great^^rnes,  which  we  call  Roman,  and  to  have 
made  a  vow  during  the  Sabine  war,  while  in  battle, 
that  he  would  raise  a  temple  on  the  capitol  to  the  great 
and  good  <Juj)iter.  He  died  when  he  had  reigned  thirty- 
eight  years. 

XXI.  "  Now,"  said  Leelius,  "  is  that  saying  of  Ca- 
to  very  certain,  that  the  constitution  of  the  state  is  not 
the  work  of  one  moment  or  one  man  :  for  it  is  evident 
how  great  an  accession  of  good  and  useful  institution* 
occurred  under  each  reign.  But  he  comes  next,  who 
appears  to  me  to  have  looked  farther  than  them  all  into 
the  nature  of  government."  "  So  it  is,"  said  Scipio, 
"for  atlerhim  Servius  Sulpicius  is  stated  first  to  have 
reigned  without  the  command  of  the  people.  He  is 
said  to  have  been  born  of  a  Tarquinian  slave  :  she  ha- 
ving conceived  him  by  some  client  of  the  king.  Brought 
up  among  the  number  of  the  servants,  when  he  attend- 
ed at  the  royal  table,  he  did  not  suppress  those  sparks 
of  genius,  which  even  then  shone  forth  in  the  boy  :  so 
shrewd  was  he  in  every  thing,  whether  in  business  or 
conversation.  Wherefore  Tarquin,  who  at  that  time  had 
only  young  children,  became  so  attached  to  Servius, 
.that  he  was  generally  thought  to  be  his  son;  and  with 
great  pains  instructed  him  in  all  those  arts,  which  he 


96  crCERo's  REPUBLIC. 

himself  had  been  taught,  after  the  very  superior  man- 
ner of  the  Greeks.  But  when  Tarquin  had  perished  by 
the  plots  of  the  sons  of  Ancus,  Servius,  as  I  before  said, 
began  to  reign,  not  by  the  command,  but  by  the  assent 
and  sufferance  of  the  people.  For  when  Tarquin  was 
falsely  said  to  be  alive,  and  sick  from  the  effects  of  his 
wound ;  he  declared  the  law  in  royal  pomp,  and  dis- 
charged debtors  with  his  own  money.  Conducting 
himself  with  much  courtesy,  he  declared  that  he  pro- 
nounced the  law  at  the  command  of  Tarquin.  He  did 
not  commit  himself  to  the  fathers,  but  Tarquin  being 
buried,  he  conferred  with  the  people  about  himself,  and 
being  authorised  to  reign,  he  had  his  accession  confirm- 
ed by  a  law  of  the  curia.  And  first  he  avenged  himself 
by  war,  for  injuries  received  from  the  Etruscans,  *  * 
*     *     *     * 

[Two  pages  wanting.] 

XXII.  *  '^  he  inscribed  eighteen  centuries  of  horse 
in  the  great  register.  Afterwards  having  set  apart  a 
great  number  of  equestrians  from  the  mass  of  the  whole 
people,  he  distributed  the  rest  of  the  citizens  into  five 
classes,  and  divided  the  old  from  the  young :  and  class- 
ed them  in  such  a  manner,  that  the  sufi*ages  were  not 
in  the  power  of  the  multitude,  but  of  the  landed  proprie-  j 
tors.  He  was  careful  of  what  ought  always  to  be  ob-  \ 
served  in  government ;  that  numbers  alone  should  not 
have  the  ascendency.  Which  classification  if  it  were 
unknown  to  you,  should  be  explained  by  me.  You  will 
perceive  the  plan  was  such,  that  the  centuries  of  horae 


BOOK  II.  97 

with  six  suffrages,  (a  century  being  added  from  the  carpen- 
ters on  account  of  their  great  utility  to  the  city,)  and  the 
first  class,  make  eighty-nine  centuries :  to  which  from  the 
one  hundred  and  four  centuries,  for  so  many  remain ; 
if  only  eight  are  added,  the  whole  power  of  the  people 
is  obtained  :  and  the  much  greater  multitude  compre- 
hended in  the  ninety-six  centuries  remaining,  is  neither 
excluded  from  voting,  lest  it  should  seem  disdainful ;  nor 
*is  it  made  too  effective,  lest  it  should  be  dangerous.  In 
the  which  matter  he  was  very  circumspect  even  as  to 
terms  and  names.  Those  from  among  the  wealthy  he 
called  "  assiduos"*  from  paying  their  taxes  in  money. 
Those  who  possessed  no  more  than  one  thousand  five 
hundred  pieces  of  brass,  or  those  who  were  polled  in  the 
register  without  any  possessions  whatever,  he  called  pro- 
letaries ;  as  if  progeny  only ;  that  is,  as  if  nothing  but  po- 
pulation might  be  expected  from  them.  But  of  those 
ninety  six  centuries,  more  were  enumerated  in  one  centu- 
ry, than  almost  in  the  whole  first  class.  Thus  the  right  of 
suffrage  was  not  prohibited  to  any  one  by  law,  and  that 
class  had  a  greater  weight  of  suffrage,  which  had  most 
at  stake  in  the  preservation  of  good  government.  As 
to  public  criers,  men  hired  for  parade,  clarion  players, 
horn  players,  and  proletaries,     *     *     *     * 

[Four  pages  wanting.] 

XXIII.      *     *      *      *     *     Was|  sixty-five  years* 
more  ancient,  being  built  thirty-nine  years  before  the 

*  Asses  dare.  f  Carthage. 

10 


98      •         "       CICERo's  REPUBLIC. 

first  olympiad.     And  the  very  ancient  Lycurgus  liad 
the  same  thing  in  view.     This  equality  therefore,  and 
this  triple  nature  of  public  affairs  appears  to  ine  to  have 
been  common  to  us  and  to  those  people.     But  what  is  pe- 
cuharin  our  republic,  and  than  which  nothing  can  be  more 
admirable,  I  will  look  very  critically  into  if  I  am  able  ; 
as  nothing  similar  is  to  be  found  in  any  government. 
For  these  things  which  I  have  adverted  to,  were  so 
mingled  in  this  state,  and  among  the  Lacedemonians, 
and   the  Carthagenians,  that  they  were  not  properly 
balanced.     For  in  whatever  government  any  one  man 
enjoys  perpetual    power,  especially   royalty, . although 
even  a  Senate  may  exist  in  it,  as  was  the  case  at  Rome 
under  the  kings,  and  in  the  laws  of  Lycurgus  at  Sparta  ; 
and  even  granting  the  people  some  share  in  the  govern- 
ment, as  was  the  fact  under  our  kings  :  still  that  royal 
name  will  stand  pre-eminent,  nor  can  a  government  of 
that  kind  be  any  thing  but  a  kingdom,   or  be   called 
otherwise.     But  such  a  form  of  government  is  espe- 
cially subject  to  change  for  this  reason ;  that  it  easily 
falls  into  the  most  unprofitable  courses,   precipitated 
thereunto  by  the  vices  of  one  man.     For  tlie    royal 
form  of  government  itself,  not  only  is  not  to  be  con- 
demned, but  I  know  not  whether  it  is  not  greatly  to  be 
preferred  to  the  other  simple  forms,  if  I  could  approve 
of  any  simple  form  of  government.     But  only  as  long 
as  it  preserves  its  proper  character,  which  is  that  the 
safety,  the  equality,  and  tranquillity  of  the  citizens,  arc 
to  be  preserved  by  the  justice,  the  wisdom,, and  the  per- 
petual power  of  one  man.     Many  things  however  arc 
altogether  wanting  to  a  people   subject  to    a    king. 


BOOK  II.  9§ 

Liberty  among  the  first :  which  is  not  that  wo  may  Uve 
under  a  just  master,  but  under  none  at  all,     *     *     * 

[Two  pages  wanting.] 

XXIV.  For  some  time  fortune  prosperously  ac- 
companied this  unjust  and  cruel  master  in  the  adminis- 
tration of  affairs.  He  subdued  all  Latium  in  war,  and 
took  Suessa,  an  opulent  and  well  stored  Pometian  city- 
Enriched  with  great  spoils  of  gold  and  silver,  he  accom- 
plished the  vow  of  his  ancestor  in  the  building  of  the  capi- 
tol.  He  established  colonies,  and  according  to  the  insti- 
tutions of  those  from  whom  he  had  derived  his  origin,  he 
sent  magnificent  gifts,  as  offerings  of  his  spoils,  to 
Apollo  at  Delphos. 

XXV.  Here  the  very  circle  is  set  in  motion,  whose 
natural  movement  and  revolution  you  learn  to  distin- 
guish from  the  beginning.  For  the  very  head  of  dis- 
cretion in  civil  matters,  upon  which  all  our  discourse 
turns,  is  to  observe  the  ways  and  bendings  of  public 
affairs  ;  so  that  when  you  perceive  what  way  any  thing 
inclines,  you  may  either  keep  it  back,  or  meet  it  by 
opposing  other  things  to  it.  For  the  king  of  whom  I 
speak,  having  stained  himself  first  with  the  murder  of  a 
good  king,  no  longer  preserved  his  integrity  of  mind, 
and  wished  to  inspire  fear  himself,  because  he  dreaded 
every  sort  of  punishment  for  his  jvickedness.  After- 
wards borne  up  yviih  his  victories  and  riches,  he  exulted 
with  insolence,  and  imposed  no  restraint  on  his  own 
conduct,  or  the  licentiousness  of  his  followers.  Where- 
fore when  his  eldest  son  had  used  violence  with  liucre- 


100  Cicero's  republic. 

tia,  the  wife  of  Collatinus,  and  daughter  of  Tricipitmus^ 
and  the  noble  and  chaste  woman  had  inflicted  death 
upon  herself  on  account  of  that  injury ;  L.  Brutus,  a 
man  pre-eminent  in  mind  and  courage,  released  his 
fellow  citizens  from  that  unjust  yoke  of  a  cruel  slavery  : 
who,  although  he  was  a  private  citizen,  sustained  the 
whole  government,  and  was  the  first  who  taught  in  this 
city,  that  no  man  was  to  be  considered  insignificant/ 
when  the  public  liberties  were  to  be  preserved.  Under 
which  leader  and  head,  the  whole  city  being  in  commo- 
tion, as  well  with  the  recent  complaints  of  the  family 
and  kindred  of  Lucretia,  as  with  the  remembrance  of 
the  many  wrongs  done  by  the  haughtiness  of  Tarquin 
liimself,  and  his  sons  ;  the  banishment  of  the  king,  his 
children,  and  his  whole  race  was  pronounced. 

XXVI.  Do  not  you  perceive  then  how  a  master 
may  spring  out  of  a  king,  and  how  a  form  of  govern- 
ment from  being  good,  may  bec^ome  the  very  worst, 
through  the  vice  of  one  man.  This  is  that  master  over 
the  people,  whom  the  Greeks  call  tyrant ;  him  only 
they  esteem  a  king,  who  consults  like  a  parent  with  the 
people,  and  preserves  those  over  whom  he  is  placed,  in 
the  most  prosperous  condition  of  life.  A  sort  of  go* 
vernment  very  good  as  I  have  said,  but  bordering  upon 
and  inclining  to  a  very  pernicious  one.  For  when  this 
king  deviates  into  unjust  rule,  at  once  he  becomes  a 
tyrant,  and  an  animal  more  hideous,  more  destructive, 
and  more  odious,  in  the  eyes  of  gods  and  men  cannot 
be  conceived  :  surpassing,  although  in  the  human  form, 
the  most  monstrous  wild  beasts  in  cruelty.     How  can 

\  he  be  rightly  called  a  man,  who  observes  no  fellowshij^ 

\ 


Booli  ii.  '    lOl 

of  humanity  with  his  fellow  citizens,  no  communion  of 
law  with  the  whole  race  of  man  'i  But  a  more  proper 
place  to  speak  of  this  will  occur,  when  circumstances 
will  suggest  to  us  to  speak  of  those,  who  have  sought 
to  usurp  the  Government  over  free  cities. 

XXYII.  You  have  here  then  the  origin  of  a  tyrant, 
for  the  Greeks  would  have  this  to  be  the  name  of  an 
unjust  king.  Our  ancestors  indeed  have  called  all  who 
have  had  an  exclusive  and  perpetual  dominion  over  the 
people,  kings.  Thus  Spurius  Cassius,  M.  Manilius, 
and  Spurius  Maelius,  are  said  to  have  wished  to  establish 
a  kingdom,  and  even     ****** 

[Two  pages  wanting.] 

XXVIII.  Lycurgus  gave  the  name  of  ancients*  at 
Lacedemon,  to  that  too  small  number  of  twenty-eight, 
to  whom  he  wished  the  whole  authority  of  counsel  to  be 
confided,  while  the  sole  command  should  be  held  by 
the  king.  Wherefore  our  ancestors  translating  and 
adopting  that  term,  those  whom  he  called  ancients,  they 
called  a  senate  :  as  we  have  already  stated  Romulus  to 
have  done  with  the  select  fathers.  Nevertheless,  the 
royal  title,  and  its  strength  and  power  were  always  pre- 
eminent. Impart  too  something  of  power  to  the  peo- 
ple, as  was  done  by  Lycurgus  and  Romulus,  and  you 
will  not  satisfy  them  with  freedom,  but  you  will  inflame 
them  with  the  passion  of  liberty,  when  you  have  only 
permitted  them  to  taste  of  power.     The  fear  indeed 

*  ys^ovroig  in  the  MSS. 
10* 


102    ^  *  CICERO'S  REPUBLIC. 

will  always  hang  over  them,  lest  they  should  have  an 
unjust  king,  which  generally  happens.  The  fortune 
therefore  of  a  people  is,  as  I  said  before,  very  uncertain, 
which  is  placed  in  the  will  or  conduct  of  one  man. 

XXIX.  Wherefore  this  first  form,  example,  and  ori- 
gin of  a  tyrant,  is  found  by  us  in  that  very  government 
which  Romulus  instituted  with  auspices,  and  not  in  that, 
which  Plato  says  Socrates  imagined  to  himself  in  that 
peripatetic  discourse.  And  as  '^arquin  subverted  the 
whole  fabric  of  royalty,  not  because  he  grasped  a  new 
sort  of  authority,  but  because  he  made  a  bad  use  of  it ; 
so  let  us  oppose  to  him  another  ;  a  good  man,  wise  and 
expert  in  every  thing  useful  and  dignified  in  civil  life  : 
a  tutor  and  steward  as  it  were  of  the  commonwealth, 
for  so  may  be  called  whoever  is  the  ruler  and  governor 
of  a  state.  Imagine  to  yourselves  that  you  recognise 
such  a  man ;  one  who  can  protect  the  state,  both  by  his 
counsel  and  conduct.  And  since  the  name  of  such  a 
man  has  not  been  alluded  to  in  this  discourse,  and  that 
a  character  of  this  kind  will  be  frequently  treated  of  in 
what  remains  to  be  said     ****** 

[Twelve  pages  wanting.] 

XXX.  ******  Plato  described  a  State 
more  to  be  desired,  than  to  be  hoped  for  upon  the  small- 
est scale.  He  did  not  constitute  things  as  they  might 
exist,  but  in  such  a  manner  as  the  nature  of  civil  affairs 
might  be  considered.  As  to  myself,  if  in  any  way  I 
am  able  to  accomplish  it,  with  the  same  principles 
which  he  had  in  view,  I  will  look,  not  into  the  picture 


BOOK  IT.  103 

and  shadow  of  a  state,  but  into  a  most  powerful  repub- 
lic ;  that  I  may  appear  to  touch,  as  it  were,  the  true 
cause  of  every  public  good  and  evil.  After  these  two 
hundred  and  forty  years  of  regal  government,  and  in- 
deed a  Httle  more,  including  the  interregnums,  Tar- 
quin  being  banished,  the  royal  title  was  as  odious  to  the 
Roman  people,  as  it  had  been  regretted  after  the  death, 
or  rather  the  disappearance  of  Romulus,  and  as  much 
as  they  w^anted  a  king  then,  in  like  manner,  after  the  ex- 
pulsion of  Tarquin,  they  could  not  endure  the  name  of 
one. 

XXXI.  Under  this  feeling  our  ancestors  then  expel- 
led Collatinus,  who  was  innocent,  through  apprehension 
of  his  family  connexions,  and  the  other  Tarquins  from 
disgust  at  their  names.  From  the  same  cause  too  P. 
Valerius  ordered  the  fasces  to  be  lowered  when  he  be- 
gan to  speak  before  the  people ;  and  had  his  building 
materials  taken  to  the  foot  of  the  Velia,  as  soon  as  he 
perceived  the  suspicions  of  the  people  to  be  raised  on 
account  of  his  having  begun  to  build  in  a  more  conspicu- 
ous part  of  the  Velia,  the  very  place  where  King  Tul- 
lus  had  dwelt.  He  also,  in  the  which  he  greatly  deser- 
ved the  name  of  Publicola,  had  that  law  passed  for  the 
people,  which  was  first  carried  in  the  meetings  of  the 
centuries,  that  no  unfriendly  magistrate  should  put  to 
death,  or  flog  any  Roman  citizen  for  appealing.  The 
pontifical  books  however  declare  appeals  to  have  ex- 
isted under  the  kings  ;  the  augural  records  show  it  also. 
The  twelve  tables  too  in  many  laws  indicate  that  it  was 
lawful  to  appeal  from  every  judgment  and  punishment. 
What  is  brought  down  to  us  by  tradition,  of  the  Decern- 


104  Cicero's  republic. 

virs  who  wrote  the  laws,  being  created  without  any  ap- 
peal, sufficiently  shows  that  the  other  magistrates  had 
not  the  power  of  judging  without  appeal.  The  law, 
too,  which  for  the  sake  of  concord  passed  in  the  consu- 
late of  Lucius  Valerius  Potitus,  and  M.  Horatius  Bar- 
batus,  men  very  justly  popular ;  sanctioned  the  princi- 
ple, that  no  magistrate  should  be  created  without  appeal. 
Nor  did  the  Portian  laws,  which  are  three  as  you  know  of 
the  three  Portii,  contain  any  thing  new  except  the  confirm- 
ation of  it.  Publicola  therefore,  upon  the  law  in  favour 
of  appeal  being  published,  immediately  ordered  the  axes 
to  be  taken  from  off  the  fasces,  and  the  next  day  had 
Sp.  Lucretius  appointed  to  him  as  his  colleague  :  being 
his-  superior  in  age,  he  ordered  his  own  lictors  to  go  to 
him  ;  and  first  established  the  custom  that  lictors  should 
precede  each  of  the  consuls,  alternate  months,  lest  the 
ensigns  of  command  among  a  free  people,  should  be  as 
numerous  as  in  a  kingdom.  There  was  something  more 
than  mediocrity  in  this  man,  as  I  consider  him :  who  ha- 
ving given  a  moderate  liberty  to  the  people,  preserved 
more  easily  the  authority  of  the  chiefs.  Nor  do  I  repeat 
these  things^  now  so  old  and  obsolete  to  you,  without 
cause.  I  select  examples  of  men  and  things  drawn 
from  illustrious  persons  and  times,  to  which  the  remain- 
der of  my  discourse  shall  be  applied. 

XXXII.  In  such  a  manner  the  senate  governed  the 
commonwealth  in  those  days,  that  though  the  people 
were  free,  still  they  interfered  in  but  few  things.  Pub- 
lic affairs  were  principally  managed  under  the  authority, 
and  by  the  rules  and  customs  of  the  senate.  And  al- 
though the  consuls  possessed  their  pojvor  only  for  n 


**  iBtOOK  II.  105 

year,  it  was  royal  in  its  nature  and  eftect.  And  this 
was  strenuously  preserved,  as  necessary  to  the  preser- 
vation of  the  influence  of  the  nobles  and  principal 
chiefs,  that  nothing  should  be  established  in  the  meet- 
ings of  the  people,  which  was  not  sanctioned  by  the 
authority  of  the  fathers.  In  these  very  times  too,  T. 
Larcius  was  appointed  dictator,  about  ten  years  after  the 
first  consuls.  A  new  kind  of  authority,  very  much  re- 
sembling, as  we  perceive,  the  royal  power.  But  all 
great  matters  were  conducted  by  the  authority  of  the 
principal  men,  the  people  submitting  to  it.  And  great 
events  took  place  in  those  times  in  war,  under  renowned 
men  in  the  supreme  command,  from  among  those  very 
dictators  and  consuls. 

XXXIII.  But  what  belongs  to  the  very  nature  of 
things,  as  that  a  people  emancipated  from  kings,  should 
take  a  little  more  power  to  themselves ;  was  brought 
about  not  long  after,  about  the  sixteenth  year,  in  the 
consulate  of  Postumus  Cominus,  and  Sp.  Cassius. 
Not  in  the  right  way  perhaps,  but  it  is  of  the  nature  of 
public  affairs  frequently  to  deviate  from  what  is  right. 
For  observe  what  F  said  in  the  beginning,  that  unless 
an  equable  compensation  prevails  in  a  state,  in  the 
laws,  in  offices,  in  emoluments  ;  so  that  the  magistrates 
enjoy  their  proper  degree  of  power ;  the  chief  men 
their  authority  in  council,  and  the  people  their  liberties, 
such  a  state  of  the  government  cannot  remain  un- 
changed. For  when  the  city  was  in  commotion  on  ac- 
count of  the  pressure  of  their  debts,  the  people  first 
occupied  the  Sacred  Mount,  then  the  Aventine.  Nor 
could  the  discipline  even  of  Lycurgus  keep  the  Greeks 


,-?■ 


106  ClCERO's  RKPUBLIC. 

within  those  restraints.  In  the  reign  of  Theoporapugj 
at  Sparta,  those  five  whom  they  call  Ephori ;  the  ten 
too  in  Crete,  who  are  called  Cosmoi ;  arose  against  the 
royal  power,  as  the  tribunes  of  the  people  did  against 
the  consular  authority. 

XXXIV.  Perhaps  there  was  a  mode  by  which  our 
ancestors  might  have  relieved  the  pressure  of  the  law  of 
debt,  which  had  not  escaped  Solon,  the  Athenian,  some 
short  time  before,  and  which  our  senate  adopted  not 
long  after,  when  on  account  of  the  infamous  conduct  of 
a  creditor,  the  citizens  were  liberated  from  the  general 
oppression,  and  voluntary  bondage  on  account  of  debt 
abolished  in  future.*     And  always  at   such   periods, 

*  This  passage  appears  to  descrre  a  note.  The  words  "  nexa"  and 
"nectier"  are  used  in  the  original.  And  at  the  first  glance,  the 
passage,  connecting  it  with  the  well  knovTfj  custom  of  keeping  debt- 
ors in  chains,  as  well  as  the  memorable  occasion  which  produced  this 
insurrectionary  movement,  would  appear  to  declare,  that  all  kinds  of 
bondage  for  debt  were  abolished  in  future.  In  early  periods,  whoever 
was  unable  to  pay  his  debts,  was  adjudged  by  a  decree  of  the  praetor, 
to  discharge  them  in  personal  services :  for  which  purpose  his  i>erson 
was  delivered  to  his  creditor  ;  whose  slave  in  every  sense  of  the  word 
he  thus  became,  until  the  debt  was  discharged.  A  debtor  thus  situ- 
ated was  termed  "  addictus"  or  sentenced.  Livy,  vi.  36.,  relates 
"  that  those  against  whom  judgments  had  been  given,  (addictos)  wero 
led  out  daily  in  herds  from  the  Forum,  to  the  mansions  of  the  patri- 
cians, which  were  filled  with  enchained  debtors :  and  that  wherever 
a  patrician  dwelt,  there  was  a  private  prison."  That  all  debtors 
were  subject  to  actual  bonds,  appears  from  every  indebted  person  un- 
der voluntary  judgment,  being  called  "  nexus,"  meaning  linked  or 
chained  ;  and  probably  when  judgment  was  passed,  debtors  were  de- 
livered in  that  condition  to  the  creditors.  But  "  nexus"  chtnged  its 
meaning,  as  the  word  "  bond"  has  done  in  our  language,  where  we 
b ind  ourselves  only  with  forms.     The  urgent  necessity  of  tiie  plebeians, 


>. 


BOOK  II.  107 

when  the  common  people  are  exhausted  by  contributions 
in  times  of  pubhc  calamity,  some  relief  and  remedy  is 
to  be  devised  for  the  common  safety.  Which  the  senate 
having  neglected  to  do,  sufficient  cause  was  given  to 
the  people  to  create  two  tribunes  during  a  sedition 
of  the  plebeians,  with  intent  to  weaken  the  power  and 
authority  of  the  senate;  which  nevertheless  remained 
a  grave  and  great  body,  bringing  forward  in  the  service 
of  the  state  the  wisest  and  bravest  men,  and  strength- 
ening it  by  arms  and  counsel.  And  their  authority  was 
the  greater,  because  far  excelling  all  others  in  honour, 
they  were  less  conspicuous  for  voluptuousness,  and  not 
much  signalized  by  their  wealth.  Their  high  worth 
also  was  the  more  esteemed  m  the  state,  because  in 
private  life  they  diligently  assisted  individuals  by  their 
advice,  and  by  substantial  services. 

arising  out  of  the  exactions  of  the  patricians,  obliged  them  to  borrow 
money  at  usury ;  and  upon  such  occasions,  for  money  weighed  out 
to  him  "  per  aes  et  libram,"  before  witnesses,  the  borrower  pledged 
Ills  person  and  liberty  to  the  lender  as  security  for  the  debt.  This 
voluntary  act,  which  was  equivalent  to  a  modem  confession  of  judg- 
ment, constituted  the  debtor  a  "  nexus  :"  .before  the  period  of  pay- 
ment had  expired,  at  which  time  only  he  was  liable  to  fetters.  Upon 
the  occasion  of  the  insurrection  mentioned  in  the  passage  ;  a  young 
man  of  respectable  plebeian  family,  C.  Publilius,  surrendered  himself 
to  Papirius,  a  patrician  usurer,  in  the  place  of  his  father  who  had 
failed  to  redeem  liimself  from  his  "  nexus."  Rejecting  the  infamous 
propositions  made  to  him,  Papirius  caused  him  to  be  cruelly  scourged. 
This  transaction  having  roused  the  people,  the  senate  was  obliged  to 
consent  to  the  liberation  of  all  persons  who  had  become  "  nexi"  by 
their  voluntary  act,  and  to  order  the  practice  to  be  discontinued  in 
future. 

I  have  translated  the  passage  in  accordance  with  this  view  of  the 
subject,     ^iebuhr,  vol.  i.  506.     Livy,  vi.  36.  viii.  28.  &c. 


108  Cicero's  republic. 

XXXV.  In  which  situation  of  the  republic,  the 
quaestor  accused  Sp.  Cassius,  who  enjoyed  the  highest 
degree  of  favour  with  the  people,  and  was  contriving  a 
usurpation  of  the  government ;  and  as  you  have  heard, 
when  his  own  father  stated  himself  to  be  satisfied  of  his 
guilt,  the  people  assenting  to  it,  he  put  him  to  death. 
It  was  a  grateful  thing  also  to  the  people,  when  Sp. 
Tarpeius,  and  A.  Aternius,  consuls,  about  fifty-four 
years  after  the  first  consuls,  carried  a  law  in  the  meet- 
ings of  the  centuries  concerning  fines.  Twenty  years 
afterwards  when  L.  Papirius,  and  P.  Pinarius,  censors, 
by  pronouncing  fines,  converted  the  strength  of  the 
flocks  of  many  private  individuals  to  the  public  use ;  a 
light  valuation  of  cattle  was  ordained  in  the  law  on  fines, 
during  the  consulate  of  C.  Jufius  and  P.  Papirius. 

XXXVI.  But  some  years  before,  when  the  senate 
enjoyed  the  greatest  authority,  the  people  being  very 
patient  and  obedient,  a  new  plan  was  instituted.  The 
consuls  and  the  tribunes  of  the  people  abdicated  the 
magistracy,  and  ten  men  were  created  with  the  greatest 
authority,  and  without  appeal,  who  were  to  possess  the 
supreme  power,  and  to  inscribe  the  laws.  Who  when 
they  with  great  equity  and  prudence,  had  written  ten 
tables  of  laws,  appointed  ten  other  decemvirs  for  the 
following  year,  whose  faith  and  justice  are  not  in  like 
manner  praised.  From  which  college,  however,  comes 
that  praiseworthy  act  of  C.  Julius,  who  stated  that  in 
his  presence  a  body  had  been  dug  out  of  the  chamber 
of  a  patrician,  L.  Sestius.  Although  he  had  supremo 
power,  and  as  decemvir  was  without  appeal,  he  admitted 
him  to  bail,  refusing  to  lose  sight  of  that  most  excellent 


BOOK  II. 


109 


I 


law,  which  forbids  sentence  to  be  pronounced  on  the 
head  of  a  Roman  citizen,  unless  in  the  meetings  of  the 
centuries. 

XXXVII.     A  third  decemviral  year  follow^  under 
the  same  men,  they  being  unwilling  to  appoint  others. 
In  this  condition  of  the  commonwealth,  which  I  have 
often  already  stated  not  to  be  lasting,  because  it  is  not 
equable  to  all  the  orders  of  the  state,  the  chief  men 
had  the  whole  government  in  their  hands  ;  the  most 
noble  decemvirs  being  always  preferred.    No  tribunes  of 
plebeians  opposed  to  them,  no  other  magistrates  asso- 
ciated with  them,  and  no  appeal  left  to  the  people  against 
death  and  stripes.     Wherefore  on  account  of  the-iiyus- 
tice  of  these  men,  a  great  disturbance  suddenly  arose, 
and  a  revolution  took  place  in  the  whole  commonwealth. 
They  added  two  tables  of  iniquitous  laws,  in  which  the 
very  marriages  which  were  even  permitted  to  strangers, 
were  forbidden  by  an  inhuman  law,  lest  the  plebeians 
should  connect  themselves  with  the  fathers  ;  which  law 
was  afterwards  abrogated   by  the  plebicist  Canuleius. 
In  all  things  they  conducted  themselves  libidinously, 
cruelly,  and  avariciously  towards  the  people.     Upon 
that  celebrated  and  well  known  affair  contained  in  many 
literary  records,  in  which  one  Decimus  Virginius  on 
account  of  the  outrage  of  one  of  the  decemvirs,  slew 
his  virgin  daughter  with  his  own  hand  in  the  Forum, 
and  fled  lamenting   to   the  army  which   was  then  on 
Mount  Algide  ;  the  soldiers  abandoned  the  war  they 
were  then  engaged  in,  and  as  was  before  done  for  a 
similar  cause,  first  came  to  the  sacred  mount,  and  next 
to  the  Aventine  ***** 

11 


no  CICERo's  REPUBLIC. 

[Eight  pages  wanting.] 

XXXVIII.  When  Scipio  had  spoken  these  things, 
and  all  by  their  silence  were  expecting  the  remainder. 
— "  Since  my  seniors  here,  Africanus,"  said  Tubero, 
*'  ask  you  no  questions,  hear  from  me  what  I  still  find 
wanting  in  your  discourse."  "  Most  cheerfully,"  re- 
plied Scipio.  "You  appear  to  me,"  said  he  "  to  have 
been  pronouncing  the  eulogium  of  our  republic,  when 
Laelius  was  inquiring  not  respecting  ours,  but  of  govern- 
ment in  general.  Nor  have  I  learnt  from  your  discourse, 
by  what  discipline,  or  by  what  customs  or  laws,  a  repub- 
lic like  the  one  you  praise,  can  be  constituted  or  pre- 
served." 

XXXIX  "  I  think,"  said  Africanus,  "  we  shall  by  and 
by  have  a  more  appropriate  occasion,  Tubero,  of  discuss- 
ing the  establishment  and  preservation  of  states.  In  re- 
spect to  the  best  kind  of  government,  I  deem  myself  to 
have  sufficiently  answered  the  inquiries  which  Laslius 
made.  First  I  pointed  out  three  kinds  of  government 
that  might  be  endured,  and  to  these  three  their  very  perni- 
cious opposites  :  that  no  one  among  them  was  the  best, 
but  that  one  moderately  balanced  from  all  three,  was  pre- 
ferable to  either  of  them.  That  I  have  availed  myself 
of  our  state  for  an  example,  was  not  with  a  view  to  define 
the  best  form  of  government,  for  that  could  be  done 
without  an  example.  But  in  truth,  thaft  a  great  state 
might  present  the  very  picture,  such  as  reason  and  lan- 
guage might  describe  it  to  be.  But  if  without  going  to 
the  example  of  any  people,  yoii  are  desirous  of  finding 


BOOK  II.     *  111 

that  perfect  condition  of  government,  then  look  at  the 
image  which  nature  presents  to  us     *     *     * 

[A  great  number  of  pages  wanting  here.] 

XL.  S.  *  *  *  a  character  I  have  been  looking 
for,  and  have  been  desirous  of  arriving  at. 

L.     The  discreet  statesman,  perhaps  1 

S.     The  veiy  same. 

L.  You  have  all  those  present  who  are  so  nume- 
rous :  or  you  can  begin  with  yourself.  '' I  wish,"  said 
Scipio,  "  it  was  proportionally  so  in  the  whole  senate. 
However,  he  is  a  discreet  man,  who  as  we  have  fre- 
quently seen  in  Africa,  seated  on  a  monstrous  wild  and 
ferocious  animal,  governs  and  directs  him  ;  making  him 
kneel  down,  not  with  blows,  but  with  a  slight  sign." 

L.  I  know,  and  have  often  seen  it  when  I  was  Lieu- 
tenant to  you. 

S.  So  the  Indian  or  Carthagenian  governs  a  wild 
beast,  and  renders  it  docile  and  gentle  with  humane 
conduct.  But  that  intellectual  principle  which  is  hid- 
den in  the  souls  of  men,  and  which  is  called  a  part  of 
the  soul,  does  not  bridle  or  tame  one  easily  subdued, 
'  whenever  it  accomplishes  it,  which  rarely  happens.  For 
that  ferocious  animal  must  be  restrained*     *     *     * 

[EithefWour  or  eight  pages  are  wanting  here.] 

*  The  continuation  of  this  passage  is,  perhaps,  found  in  Nonius  Voc 
Exaultare,  "  which  nourishes  itself  with  blood,  and  which  so  delights 
in  erery  kind  of  cruelty,  that  it  scarcely  can  be  satiated  with  the  sad 
elestruction  of  human  beings." 


i 


112  ClCERo's  REPUBLIC. 

XLII.  **  Already,"  said  Lselius,  "  I  see  the  man  I  ex- 
pected, so  greatly  endowed,  and  charged  with  such  du- 
ties."   "  With  this  duty  only,"  replied  Africanus,  *'  for  in 
this  one  almost  all  the  rest  are  included.     That  in  his 
thoughts  and  actions  he  never  deviate  from  himself,  so 
that  he  may  call  upon  others  to  imitate  him,  and  that  he 
may  offer  himself  in  the  purity  of  his  mind  and  his  life, 
as  a  mirror  to  his  fellow  citizens.     For  as  in  stringed 
instruments  or  pipes,  as  well  as  in  singing  with  voices, 
a  certain  harmony  is  to  be  formed  with  distinct  sounds, 
an  interruption  to  which  cannot  be  borne  by  refined  ears ; 
this  kindred  and  harmonious  concert  being  produced  by 
the  modification  of  dissimilar  voices.     So  a  govern^ 
ment  temperately  organized  from  the  upper,  the  lower/ 
and  middle  orders  blended  together,  harmonizes  \ik(y 
music  by  the   agreement  of  dissimilar  sounds.     And 
that  which  in  song  is  tpalled  by  musicians,  harmony, 
is  concord  in  a  state ;  the  strongest  and  best  bond  ot  . 
safety  in  every  republic  ;  yet  which  without  justice  can- 
not be  preserved.* 

[Many  pages  wanting.] 

'■''  Professor  Mai  quotes  the  following  passage  from  St.  Augus- 
tin,  De.  Civ.  Dei,  as  containing  a  summary  of  that  part  of  the 
discussion  interrupted  here.  "  And  when  Scipio  had  in  a  more 
comprehensive  and  diffuse  way,  shown  how  -at^antageous  justice 
was  to  a  state,  and  how  injurious  the  absence  of  it  was :  Philus,  who 
was  one  of  those  present  at  the  discussion,  took  it  up,  and  proposal 
lliat  that  subject  should  be  very  carefully  investigated,  on  account  of 
the  opinion  which  was  obtaining,  that  governments  could  not  be  admi- 
nistered without  injustice." 


)f- 


BOOK  IT.  lib 

XLIV.  '^  I  assent  entirely  to  it,"  said  Scipio,  "  and 
declare  freely  to  you,  that  we  must  esteem  in  nothing 
all  that  we  have  said  upon  government,  or  that  may  re- 
main farther  to  be  said,  unless  it  be  established,  not 
only  that  it  is  false,  that  injustice  is  necessary,  but  that  this 
is  most  true  ;  that  without  the  most  perfect  justice,  no 
government  can  prosper  in  any  manner.  But  if  you 
please,  thus  far  for  to  day.  The  remainder,  for  many 
things  remain  yet  to  be  said,  we  will  defer  until  to-mor- 
row." When  this  was  approved,  an  end  was  put  to  the 
discussion  for  that  day. 


m^ 


I 


''  11* 


^  'Ik- 


\  4 


'..  f 


t*-  .**       ^' 


^i ''  " 


A 


CICERO'S  REPUBLIC. 

BOOK  III.  ■■♦ 

[Four  er  eight  pages  wanting.]  ^  ., 

II.  *  *  *  *  The  intelligent  prin- **  ^ 
ciple  having  found  man  endowed  with  the  faculty  of 
uttering  rude  and  imperfect  sounds,  enabled  him  to  se- 
parate and  distinguish  them  into  articulations.  Thus 
words  were  affixed  to  things  as  signs  of  them,  and  man, 
once  solitary,  became  united  to  man,  by  the  sweet  bond 
of  conversation.  By  the  same  intelligence,  the  inflex- 
ions of  the  voice,  which  we  find  to  be  infinite  in  num- 
ber, are  all  distinguished  and  expressed,  by  the  inven- 
tion of  a  few  marks,  which  enable  us  to  hold  a  corres-  j. 
pondence  with  the  absent,  to  indicate  pur  inclinations, 
and  to  preserve  a  record  of  things  past.  To  this  the 
knowledge  of  numbers  was  added,  a  thing  not  only  ne- 
cessary to  life,  but  at  once  immutable  and  eternal. 
Which  first  led  us  to  consider  the  heavens,  to  look  upon 
the  motion  of  the  planets  with  interest,  and  the  number-  ^ 
ing  of  the  nights  and  days        *         *         *         * 

[Eight  or  ten  pages  wanting.] 


116  Cicero's  republic. 

Ill,  *  *  *  *  Whose  minds  rose  to  a 
loftier  pitch  as  I  before  said,  that  they  might  execute  or 
discover  something  worthy  of  the  gift  they  had  received 
from  the  gods.  Wherefore  let  those  who  have  treated 
upon  the  moral  conduct  of  life,  be  deemed  by  us,  great 
men,  as  they  are  ;  learned  men  ;  masters  of  truth  and 
virtue.  Yet  let  it  be  admitted  that  civil  rights,  and  the 
government  of  a  people,  whether  they  are  the  fruits  of 
men  experienced  in  the  management  of  public  affairs, 
or,  as  the  fact  has  been,  the  result  of  their  literary  lei- 
sure, be  least  despised  ;  causing  as  they  do  to  spring 
up  in  great  minds,  as  we  have  often  seen,  an  incredible 
and  divine  virtue.  For  if  any  one  to  those  faculties 
which  the  mind  has  from  nature,  and  to  those  talents 
which  civil  institutions  produce,  hath  added  also  the 
learning,  and  the  more  various  knowledge  of  things,  in 
which  men  engaged  in  the  discussion  of  those  books 
are  versed,  there  is  no  one  who  ought  not  to  prefer  such 
a  man  to  all  others.  For  what  can  be  more  excellent, 
than  when  the  practice  and  habit  of  great  affairs  is  join- 
ed to  a  perfect  knowledge  of  the  theory  of  the  science 
of  them  ?  Or  what  more  perfect  can  be  imagined  than 
P.  Seipio,  C.  Lselius,  and  L.  Philus ;  who  that  they 
might  omit  nothinjr  appertaining  to  the  high  character  of 
enlightened  men,  to  the  knowledge  of  our  domestic 
and  ancient  customs,  united  the  learning  received  from 
Socrates  1  Wherefore  he  who  determined  and  effected 
both,  that  is,  instructed  himself  as  well  in  the"  institu- 
tions, as  in  the  philosophy  of  the  ancients,  I  think  hag 
accomplished  every  thing  with  praise.  But  if  a  choice 
must  be  made  between  those  two  paths  to  excellence. 


BOOK  111.  117 

and  if  to  any  one,  that  tranquil  way  of  life  passed  in  the 
best  studies  and  sciences  may  appear  happier,  still  cer- 
tainly an  active,  civil  life  is  more  illustrious  and  more 
laudable.  The  greatest  men  derive  their  glory  from 
.^uch  a  hfe,  as  M.  Curius  *         *         *         * 

"  Whom  none  could  overcome  with  arms  or  gold." 

[Six  pages  wanting.] 

ly,  *  *  *  Nevertheless  this  difference  existed 
in  their  two  different  modes  :  the  one  unfolded  the  prin- 
ciples of  nature  by  their  studies  and  by  their  eloquence  ; 
the  others  by  their  institutions  and  by  their  laws.  This 
commonwealth  alone  has  produced  many,  if  not  alto- 
gether to  be  deemed  sages,  since  that  title  is  so  cau- 
tiously bestowed,  yet  worthy  of  the  greatest  praise ; 
for  they  cultivated  the  precepts  and  discoveries  of 
sages.  Wherefore  civil  governments  are  to  be  extolled 
and  ever  will  be,  since  in  the  nature  of  things,  to  con- 
stitute a  commonwealth  which  shall  be  lasting,  is  one 
of  the  greatest  efforts  of  mind  :  and  thus  if  we  only 
enumerate  one  for  every  country,  what  a  multitude  of 
excellent  men  do  we  find.  For  if  we  permit  our  minds 
to  take  a  survey  of  that  famous  Greece,  of  Italy,  La- 
tium,  or  the  Sabine  and  Volscian  people  ;  the  Samnites, 
the  Etrurians  ;  next  the  Assyrians,  the  Persians,  the 
Carthagenians.     If  these         *         *         * 


*  -  [Twelve  pages  wanting.] 

9 

V.     *      *     *     «<  Truly,"  said  Philus,  "  you  have 


118  CICERo's  REPUBLIC. 

imposed  a  fine  task  upon  me,  wishing  me  to  undertake 
the  justification  of  what  is  wrong."  "  Surely,"  said 
Laelius,  "  you  are  afi*aid  lest  in  using  the  sarao  argu- 
ments which  are  wont  to  be  brought  forward  against 
justice,  you  may  appear  to  hold  such  opinions  yourself; 
you  who  are  almost  the  only  example  left  of  ancient 
probity  and  faith.  But  your  habit  of  discussing  both 
sides  of  the  question,  in  order  more  easily  to  get  at  th^ 
truth,  is  very  well  known."  "  Well,  well,"  said  Philus, 
''  I  will  do  as  you  wish,  and  defile  myself  with  my  eyes 
open  :  for  since  those  who  search  for  gold  do  not  refuse 
to  do  it ;  we  who  are  looking  for  what  is  right,  a  thing* 
much  more  precious  than  gold,  assuredly  ought  not  to 
avoid  any  thing  that  is  disagreeable.  And  I  wish,  since 
I  am  about  to  make  use  of  another  man's  opinions,  it 
was  possible  for  me  to  make  use  of  his  tongue  also. 
I^ow,  however,  L.  Furius  Philus,  must  say  what  Car- 
neades,  a  Greek  in  the  habit  of  saying  whatever  he 
pleased         *         *         * 

[Four  pages  wanting.] 

VIII.  *  *  *  But  the  other  has  filled  foiir  pretty 
large  books  with  Ihe  subject  of  justice.  From  Chry- 
sippus  I  have  never  looked  for  any  thing  very  great  or 
magnificent ;  since  he  reasons  in  a  particuli^  way  of 
his  own,  and  examines  things  rather  by  the  force  of 
words,  than  the  weight  of  facts.  It  was  for  those  dis- 
tinguished men,  to  raise  up  that  prostrate  virtue,  and 
elevate  it  to  the  divine  heights  of  wisdom.  A  virtue 
which  stands  alone  as  it  were,  greatly  munificent  and 


>•'• 


BOOK  III,  119 

liberal ;  which  loves  every  thing  better  than  itself,  and 
is  bom  more  for  others,  than  for  its  own  interests. 
Nor  was  the  inclination  wanting  to  them  :  for  what 
other  cause  had  they  for  writing,  or  what  motive  soever? 
In  genius  they  excelled  all.  But  the  cause  was  greater 
even  than  their  inclination  and  strength.  The  right  indeed 
concerning  which  we  inquire,  is  something  civil,  not 
natural :  if  it  were,  justice  and  injustice  would  be  the 
^ame  things  to  all  men,  as  hot  and  cold,  bitter  and 
sweet  things  are. 

IX.  Now  however,  if  any  one  borne  upon  the 
chariot  with  winged  serpents,  of  which  Pacuvius  speaks, 
could  survey  with  his  eyes,  and  look  down  upon  the 
many  and  various  nations  and  cities  ;  he  might  see 
chiefly  among  that  unchanging  race  of  the  Egyptians, 
which  preserves  in  its  records  the  memory  of  so  many 
events  and  ages,  an  ox  esteemed  as  a  god,  which  the 
Egyptians  call  Apis ;  and  many  other  strange  things 
among  them,  among  which  wild  beasts  consecrated  into 
the  number  of  the  gods.  Then  in  Greece,  where  as 
with  us,  magnificent  temples  are  consecrated  contain- 
ing human  images,  which  the  Persians  considered  im- 
pious.  For  which  cause  alone,  Xerxes  is  said  to  have 
ordered  the  temples  of  the  Athenians  to  be  burnt ;  con- 
sidering it  to  be  wicked  to  shut  the  gods  up  within  walls, 
whose  residence  was  the  whole  universe.  Afterwards 
Philip  who  had  it  in  contemplation,  and  Alexander  who 
carried  it  into  effect,  gave  as  reasons  for  making  war 
against  the  Persians,  that  they  avenged  the  temples  of 
Greece  ;  which  the  Greeks  did  not  think  of  repairing, 
that  the  devastation  might  be  an  eternal  monument  to 


120  Cicero's  republic. 

posterity  of  the  infamy  of  the  Persians.  How  many,  as 
the  Taurians  in  Axinum,  as  Busiris  the  king  of  Egypt, 
as  the  Gauls,  the  Carthage nians,  have  thought  it  a 
grateful  and  pious  duty  to  4he  gods,  to  immolate  men. 
But  the  institutions  of  life  differ  so  much,  that  the  Cre- 
tans and  Etolians  esteem  it  honourable  to  steal :  the 
Ijacedemonians  «sed  to  say  that  all  lands  were  theirs 
which  they  could  reach  with  a  shaft.  The  Athenians 
were  wont  to  swear  even  publicly,  that  every  soil  was 
theirs,  which  produced  oil  and  corn.  The  Gauls  con- 
sider it  shameful  to  produce  grain  by  labour,  and  there- 
fore go  armed  to  harvest  other  people's  lands.  But  wc, 
the  most  just  of  men,  to  make  our  own  olive  and  viofir. 
yards  more  valuable,  do  not  permit  the  transalpine  na- 
tions to  plant  them  :  in  doing  whiph  we  are  said  to  act 
prudently  ;  it  is  not  called  acting  justly.  By  which 
you  may  understand  there  is  a  wide  distance  between 
prudence  and  equity.  Lycurgus,  the  founder  of  the 
best  laws,  and  the  most  equal  rights,  gave  the  lands  of 
the  wealthy  to  be  cultivated  by  the  lower  class  in  the 
state  of  servitude. 

X.  But  if  I  were  to  describe  the  various  kinds  of  laws, 
of  institutions,  of  customs  and  manners,  uot  only  so 
different  among  such  divers  nations,  but  even  in  a  single 
city,  or  in  this,  I  could  demonstrate  them  to  have  been 
changed  a  thousand  times.  Our  friend  Manilius  here, 
an  interpreter  of  laws,  will  tell  you  that  other  laws  exist 
now  concerning  the  legacies  and  inheritances  of  wo- 
men, than  those  he  was  wont  to  speak  of  in  his  youth, 
before  the  Voconian  law  was  passed ;  which  very  law, 
indeed  proposed  for  the  advantage  of  the  men,  is  full 


BOOK  III.    A^^  121 

of  injustice  towards  the  women.  For  why  should  a 
woman  not  have  possessions'?  Why  should  a  vestal 
appoint  an  heir,  and  her  mother  not?  Why  if  hmits 
were  to  be  put  to  the  possessions  of  women,  should  the 
daughter  of  Crassus,  if  she  were  an  only  daughter,  pos- 
sess thousands  legally,  when  mine  could  not  possess 
two  or  three  hundred     ****** 

[Two  pages  wanting.] 

XI.  ******  If  these  rights  were  thus 
^sanctioned  in  us,  all  men  would  have  the  same  rights, 
and  would  not  have  different  rights  at  different  periods. 
But  if  it  is  the  duty  of  a  just  and  good  man  to  obey  the 
laws,  I  would  ask  which  are  they  to  be  1  Or  shall  he 
obey  all  indiscriminately  1  But  virtue  does  not  admit  of 
uncertainty,  nor  nature  endure  inconstancy.  The 
strength  of  law  consists  in  punishment,  not  in  our  natu- 
ral justice.  Natural  right  therefore  does  not  exist. 
Whence  it  follows,  that  men  are  not  made  just  by  na- 
ture. But  it  is  said,  although  there  are  various  laws, 
still  good  men,  by  natural  inclination,  pursue  what  is 
just  in  itself,  and  not  what  is  assumed  to  be  so;  be- 
cause it  is  the  part  of  a  good  and  just  man,  to  render 
that  justice  to  every  one  which  he  is  deserving  of. 
Now,  first,  are  we  in  any  wise  just  to  the  dumb  beasts  'i 
For  men,  not  of  mediocrity,  but  great  and  learned  ; 
Pythagoras  and  Empedocles,  declare  that  all  animal'? 
possess  the  same  degree  of  right,  and  denounce  una- 
toning  punishments  to  hang  over  those  by  whom  any 
12"-       • 


122  CICERO's  REPUBLIC. 

animal  is  outraged.     It  is  wicked  therefore  to  injure  the 
brutes.     ****** 

[Eight  pages  wanting.] 

XII.  ******  what  we  call  wisdom, 
urges  us  to  increase  our  wealth,  our  riches,  and  to  ex- 
tend our  possessions.  How  could  that  great  comman- 
der* who  formerly  carried  the  limits  of  his  empire  into 
Asia  ;  how  could  he  govern,  bear  sway,  reign,  have  do- 
mit)ion,  and  the  full  enjoyment  of  voluptuousness,  unless 
he  took  something  from  others?  But  justice  orders  us 
to  spare  all,  to  consult  the  welfare  of  mankind,  to  give 
to  every  one  his  own,  and  to  abstain  from  every  thing 
that  is  sacred,  every  thing  that  is  public,  everything 
which  is  not  our  own.  What  therefore  is  to  be  done  1 
If  wisdom  is  consulted,  riches,  power,  wealth,  honours, 
authority,  empire,  are  open  to  individuals  and  nations. 
But  since  it  is  the  public  interest  we  are  discussing,  in- 
stances of  a  public  nature  will  illustrate  better;  and  as 
the  same  degree  of  right  is  in  both,  I  shall  advert  to 
the  wisdom  of  a  nation,  and  I  shall  omit  the  rest.  Our 
own  nation,  which  Africanus  in  his  discourse  yesterday, 
traced  to  its  origin,  whose  empire  already  extends  over 
the  earth,  has  it,  once  least  of  them  all,  become  so  by 
justice  or  wisdom  ]****** 

•     •        [Four  or  eight  pages  wanting.] 

XIV.  For  all  who  possess  the  power  of  Jife  and 
death  over  a  people  are  tyrants,  yet  they  prefer  to  bo 

*  Alexaiider. 


t      BOOK   III.  123 

called  kings  %  the  name  of  the  good  Jupiter.  When 
certain  persons  through  the  influence  of  their  riches, 
their  class,  or  other  circumstances,  possess  themselves 
of  the  government,  it  is  a  faction.  Yet  they  call  them- 
selves, the  better  class.  If  the  people  however  are  up- 
permost £ind  rule  every  thin^  at  their  own  pleasure,  that 
is  called  liberty  ;  nevertheless  it  is  licentiousness.  But 
when  one  fears  another,  man  mistrusting  man,  and  one 
class  another,  then  because  no  one  confides,  a  sort  of 
pact  is  made  between  the  people  and  the  great,  from 
whence  that  combined  form  of  government  springs, 
which  Scipio  has  praised.  So  that  neither  nature,  or 
the  will  is  the  mother  of  justice,  but  weakness.  For 
when  one  thing  is  to  be  chosen  out  of  three,  either  to 
do  injustice  without  permitting  it  to  be  done  to  you  ;  or 
to  do  it  and  permit  it  also  ;  or  neither  one  or  the  other  : 
the  best  is  to  do  it  with  impunity*  if  you  can  ;  thr  se- 
cond best  is  neither  to  do  it.  nor  suffer  it  to  be  done  to 
you  :  the  worst  of  all  is  to  be  eternally  fighting  now  on 
account  of  your  own  aggressions,  now  on  account  of 
Those  of  others       ***** 

tAn  unknown  number  of  pages  wanting.] 

*  *  *  Except  the  Arcadians  and  the  Athe- 
jiians,  who,  I  suppose,  fearing  lest  at  some  period  this 
iecreel  of  justice  might  appear,  have  feigned  them- 

*  These  are  sophisms. brought  forward  in  favour  of  injustice. 

Vide.  Lact.  Inst.  5, 
t  To  restore  tilings  unjustly  acquired. 


124  CICERO's  REPUBLIC. 

selves  to  be  sprung  from  the  earth,  like  the  little  mice 
we  see  in  the  fields. 

XVI.  To  these  things,  others  are  wont  to  be  added 
*   principally  by  those,  distinguished  for  their  honesty  in 

discussion,  and  having  more  weight  for  that  reason. 
Who  when  engaged  in  the  inquiry  of  what  constitutes 
*.  good  man,  frank  and  plain  as  we  wish  to  find  him,  arc 
not  themselves  crafty,  hardened,  and  malicious  in  argu- 
ment. They  deny  that  the  wise  man  is  good  only  be- 
cause goodness  and  justice  are  pleasing  to  him  from 
their  nature ;  but  because  the  lives  of  good  men  are 
free  from  apprehension,  care,  solicitude  and  danger. 
Whereas  bad  men  have  always  a  sting  goading  their 
souls,  and  judgment  and  punishment  are  always  pre* 
sent  to  their  eyes.  That  there  is  no  emolument,  no 
advantage  arising  from  injustice,  so  great  as  to  com- 
pensate the  fear,  and  the  constant  thought  that  some 
punishment  is  impending       ***** 

[Four  or  eight  pages  .wanting.  J 
*   '     -*    ' 

XVII.  I  ask  if  there  be  two  men,  one  of  them  of 
the  very  best  kind  ;  equitable,  perfectly  just,  of  exem- 
plary faith :  the  other  singular  for  his  wickedness  and 
audacity  :  and  suppose  the  community  in  such  an  error, 
that  the  good  man  passes  for  a  wicked  and  dishonest 
one ;  while  the  bad  one  has  the  reputation  of  perfect 
probity  and  good  faith.     And  through  this  general  de- 

'  '  lusion  of  the  citizens,  the  good  man  is  harassed,  ar- 
rested, bound,  his  eyes  put  out,  condemned,  thrown  in 
chains,  tortured  in  the  fire,  banished.     Wanting  every 


'^ 


BOOK  III.  125 

thing,  at  last  he  appears  to  all  to  be  deservedly  the 
most  wretched  of  men.  On  the  other  hand,  the  bad 
man  is  praised,  sought  after,  caressed  by  all.  Honours 
of  every  kind,  authority,  power,  and  every  advantage 
conferred  upon  him  from  all  sides.  A  man,  finally,  in 
the  estimation  of  all  deemed  the  very  best,  and  worthy 
of  the  highest  gifts  of  fortune.  Who  would  be  so  in- 
sane as  to  hesitate  which  of  these  two  he  would  choose 
to  be? 

XVIII.  As  it  is  with  individuals^  so  it  is  with  nations. 
No  community  is  so  stupid,  as  not  to  prefer  comman- 
ding by  injustice,  to  serving  according  lo  ju.stice.  I 
shall  not  go  far  back  for  examples.  Being  consul,  you 
assisting  me  in  council  ;  I  had  to  examine  the  Numan- 
tine  treaty.  Who  is  ignorant  that  P  )rapey  made  that 
treaty,  and  that  Mancinus  was  concerned  in  the  same 
affair  1  This  last  most  excellent  man  supported  fhe 
proposition  I  carried  from  the  consultation  in  the  senate ; 
the  other  most  earnestly  opposed  it.  Those  who  valu- 
ed modesty,  integrity,  and  good  faith  preferred  Man- 
cinus :  yet  for  his  reasoning,  counsel,  and  policy,  Pom- 
pey  took  the  lead  of  him  *         *         *         * 

[An  unknown  number  of  pages  wanting.] 

XXIX.  *****  Ti.  Gracchus  was  vigi- 
lant for  the  interests  of  the  people,  but  neglected  the 
rights  of  the  Latins  and  the  treaties  with  the  allies.  If 
such  customs  and  license  should  spread  themselves 
wider,  and  our  empire  be  changed  from  right  to  force, 
r:o  that  those  who  until  now  voluntarily  obey  us,  shoulrf 
12* 


0 


126  CICERo's  REPUBLIC. 

be  ruled  only  by  terror  ;  although  it  has  been  vigilantly 
preserved  for  us,  who  are  of  the  present  age ;  yet  I 
should  be  very  solicitous  about  our  posterity,  and  about 
the  immortality  of  the  republic,  which  might  be  perpet- 
ual, if  the  institutions  and  manners  of  our  forefathers 
were  preserved. 

XXX.  When  Lselius  had  thus  spoken,  all  present 
expressed  themselves  to  have  been  very  much  delighted 
by  him,  but  Scipio,  among  the  rest,  as  if  quite  elated  with 
pleasure,  "  many  causes,"  said  he,  "indeed  Laelius,  hast 
thou  often  defended,  in  such  a  manner  that  I  can  by  no 
means  compare  our  colleague  Servius  Galba  to  thee  ; 
whom  when  he  lived  thou  preferredest  to  all ;  nor  in 
truth  any  of  the  attic  orators  *  *  * 

* .  [Twelve  pages  wanting,  j 

XXXI.  *****  Therefore  that  common 
interest,  that  is  the  commonwealth,  who  can  recognize 
it  when  all  are  oppressed  by  the  cruelty  of  one  ;  when 
no  bond  of  Law  exists,  nor  that  consent  of  congregated 
society,  which  constitutes  a  people.  And  this  very 
condition  of  the  Syxacusans  :  a  celebrated  city,  as 
Timaeus  says,  the  first  among  the  Greeks,  and  the  most 
beautiful  of  them  all  :  its  harbour  embosomed  within 
the  walls,  its  canals  running  through  the  city  :  its  broad 
streets,  its  porticoes,  temples,  fortifications,  all  these 
did  fiot  help  to  constitute  a  commonwealth,  while 
Dionysius  reigned.  The  people  had  no  part  in  them, 
for  the  very  people  belonged  to  one  man.  Therefore 
where  there  is  a  tyrant,  it  is  not  a  vitiated  common- 


«        BOOK  111.  127 

wealth,  as  I  said  yesterday,  but  reason  compels  us  to 
declare  plainly  that  no  coramonweaUh  at  all  exists. 

XXXII.  "  Indeed"  said  Laelius,  "  you  speak  very 
clearly,  and  I  already  perceive  the  drift  of  your  dis- 
course. 

S.  You  see  therefore,  that  when  every  thing  is  in  the 
power  of  a  faction,  neither  can  that  be  properly  called  a 
commonwealth. 

L.     I  judge  it  plainly  so. 

S.  And  most  rightly  do  you  judge,  for  what  was  the 
condition  of  the  Athenians,  when  after  that  great 
Pelopponesian  war,  thirty  men  were  most  unjustly 
placed  in  the  command  of  that  city  ?  Did  the  ancient 
glory  of  the  city,  the  admirable  nature  of  its  buildings, 
its  theatre,  gymnasia,  its  noble  porticoes,  its  citadel,  or 
the  admirable  works  of  Phidias,  or  the  magoificent  port 
of  Piraeus,  did  they  constitute  a  commonwealth? 
"  Not  in  the  least"  said  Laelius,  **  because  indeed  the 
cojjjrapn.:inler.s?t  was  not  thought  of." 

S.  How  was  it  at  Rome,  when  the  Decemvirs  ex- 
isted without  appeal,  in  that  third  year,  M'hen  liberty  it- 
self had  parted  with  its  privileges  1 

Li.  Nothing  was  left  to  the  people,  and  truly  it  was 
necessary  to  bring  them  to  that  point,  that  they  might 
recover  their  rights. 

XXXIII.  S.  I  come  now  to  the  third  kind,  that  in 
which  some  inconsistency  will  perhaps  be  perceived, 
whfere  all  things  are  said  to  be  done  by  the  people,  and 
to  be  in  the  poweLoOhe  people.  When  the  multitude 
orders  punishments  to  be  inflicted  in  any  manner  that  it 
pleases,  ordering,  seizing,  keeping,  dissipating  every 


128  •  CICERo's  REPUBLIC. 

thing  whatever  they  choose,  can  you  then  LseUus,  deny 
that  to  be  a  repiibHc,  where  all  things  belong  to  the  peo- 
ple, and  when  indeed  we  define  a  republic  to  be  a  com- 
monwealth 1"  "  There  is  nothing,"  said  Laelius,  "  1 
would  sooner  deny  to  be  a  republic,  than  where  all  things 
are  in  the  power  of  the  multitude.  We  did  not  consider 
that  they  had  a  republic  among  the  Syraousans,  or  a1 
Agrigentum,  or  at  Athens  when  they  were  under  tyrants, 
or  at  Rome  when  under  the  decemvirs.  Nor  do  I  see 
how  the  name  of  republic  is  appropriate  when  the  mul- 
titude rules.  Because  first,  as  you  have  happily  defined 
it  to  me,  Scipio,  a  people  does  not  exist,  but  where  it  is 
held  together  by  consent  of  law  ;  and  this  sort  of  moh, 
is  as  much  a  tyrant  as  if  it  were  one  man.  Indeed  it  is 
more  mischievous,  for  nothing  is  more  ferocious  than 
the  wild  beast  which  assumes  the  name  and  form  of  the 
people.  Nor  is  it  right,  when  the  property  of  maniacs 
is  placed  by  law  under  the  guardianship  of  kindred, 
that  *  *  :* 

[Eight  pages  wanting.] 

i 

XXXIV.  *  *  *  of  it,*  it  may  with  as 
much  propriety  be  said  that  it  is  a  republic  and  a  com- 
monwealth, as  it  may  be  said  of  a  kingdom.  "  And 
much  more,"  said  Mummius,  "  for  a  king  being  one,  is 
more  like  a  master  ;  but  where  many  good  men  are  at 
the  head  of  affairs  in  a  republic,  nothing  can  be  more 
happily  constituted.     But  I  certainly  prefer  a  kingdom 

*  The  better  class. 


COOK  III.  129 

to  the  sway  of  a  democracy  ;  which  third  and  most 
vicious  kind  of  government  remains  for  you  to  explain." 

XXXV.  To  this  Scipio  replied,  "  I  recognize  well 
Spurius,  your  steady  aversion  to  the  popular  mode, 
and  although  it  might  be  treated  with  less  aversion  than 
you  are  wont  to  do,  nevertheless  I  agree,  that  of  all 
these  three  kinds,  no  one  is  less  to  be  approved  of.  I 
do  not  however  agree  with  you  that  the  better  class  are 
to  be  preferred  to  a  king  ;  for  if  it  is  wisdom  which 
governs  a  state,  of  what  consequence  is  it,  whether  it 
resides  in  one,  or  in  many  ?  But  in  our  discussion  we 
are  led  into  a  sort  of  error.  When  we  call  them  the 
better  class,  nothing  can  be  conceived  more  excellent, 
for  what  can  be  imagined  more  desirable  than  the  best  ? 
When  however  a  king  is  mentioned,  an  unjust  king  oc- 
curs to  our  minds.  We  do  not  nevertheless  intend  to 
speak  of  an  unjust  king,  in  our  examination  of  this 
royal  kind  of  government.  Think  of  Romulus,  Pom- 
pilius,  and  Tullus  as  kings,  and  perhaps  you  will  not  be 
so  displeased  with  that  kind  of  government. 

M.  What  sort  of  praise  then  is  left  for  a  democratic 
government  1 

S.  What*  did  you  think,  Spurius,  of  the  Rhodians, 
with  whom  we  were  together  ;  did  you  see  nothing  like 
a  commonwealth  there  ? 

M.     Indeed  I  did,  and  least  of  all  to  be  blamed. 

S.  You  say  well.  But  if  you  remember  all  were 
alike  ;  sometimes  plebeians,  sometimes  senators  ;  and 
by  ti^ms  discharging  during  certain  months  their  func- 
tions as  senators  ;  the  other  months  they  remained  in 
the  ranks  of  the  people.     In  both  capacities  however 


130  eiCERO's  REPUBLIC. 

they  had  the  privilege  of  being  present  at  the  meetings 
for  deliberation,  and  equally  in  the  theatres  and  in  the 
courts,  great  matters  and  all  others  were  judged ;  so 
numerous  was  the  muUitude  and  so  great  its  power 
that  ***** 


:^ 


CICERO'S  REPUBLIC. 


BOOK  IV. 

jj****Vf*  How  conveniently  the  or- 
ders are  set  down  ;  the  ages,  the  classes.  The  eques- 
trian order  where  the  senato  votes.  Too  many  fooHshly 
seek  to  abolish  that  useful  institution,  hoping  that 
through  some  Plebecists  procuring  the  sale  of  the 
horses,  they  may  get  a  largess. 

III.  Look  now  at  the  other  provisions  so  wisely 
made,  that  the  citizens  may  enjoy  a  happy  and  honest 
state  of  society,  for  that  is  the  very  motive  for  their 
union  ;  and  which  government  ought  to  secure  to  men, 
by  institutions  and  laws.  In  the  first  place,  as  to  pue- 
rile discipline  for  free-born  young  men,  respecting 
which  the  Greeks  have  laboured  so  much  in  vain  ;  and 
the  only  matter  about  which  our  guest  Polybius  re- 
proaches the  negligence  of  our  institutions.  No  de- 
fined system,  or  of  a  public  nature,  or  uniform  for  all, 
was  decreed  by  the  laws. 

[Four  or  eight  pages  wanting.] 

lY,  ******  nor  naked  when  at  an 
age  of  puberty.     So  deep  did  they  seek  as  it  were  to 


132  CICERO's  REPUBLIC. 

lay  the  foundalioDs  of  modesty.  But  how  absurd  the 
exercises  of  youth  in  the  Grecian  Gymnasia ;  how  tri- 
fling that  drilling  of  young  boys  :  what  loose  and  unre- 
strained manners  permitted  to  them.  I  say  nothing  of 
the  Eleans  and  Thebans,  among  whom  free  license  and 
permission  was  given  to  the  young  people  to  indulge  in 
sensuality.  The  Lacedemonians  too,  when  they  allow- 
ed every  sensual  indulgence  short  of  violence,  among 
their  youth,  were  destroying  what  they  were  granting 
such  a  slight  protection  to.  "  I  clearly  understand, 
Scipio,"  said  Lselius,  "  that  in  these  practices  of  the 
Greeks,  which  you  reprehend,  you  had  rather  attack  the 
most  illustrious  people,  than  your  favourite  Plato,  whom 
you  do  not  assail  at  all,  especially     ***** 


f 


CICERO'S  REPUBLIC. 


BOOK  V. 


II.  *  *  *  *  **  "^Q  prerogative  more  royal 
than  the  administration  of  justice,  in  which  was  compre- 
hended the  expounding  of  rights,  for  individuals  were 
accustomed  to  seek  justice  from  kings.  On  which  ac- 
count the  lands,  the  fields,  the  groves,  the  extensive  and 
rich  grazing  districts  were  defined,  which  belonged  to 
the  sovereign,  and  were  all  managed  without  any  care 
or  labour  on  his  pait ;  that  none  of  the  cares  of  private 
business,  might  abstract  him  from  the  affairs  of  the  pub- 
lic. Nor  was  any  man  an  umpire  or  arbitrator  of  any 
legal  contention,  but  all  things  were  decided  by  royal 
judgments.  And  it  seems  to  me,  that  our  Numa  chiefly 
adopted  this  ancient  custom  from  the  kings  of  Greece. 
For  the  others,  although  they  also  discharged  this  func- 
tion, yet  a  great  many  of  them  waged  wars,  and  occu- 
pied themselves  in  establishing  the  rules  of  war.  But 
that  long  peace  of  Numa,  was  the  parent  of  law  and 
religion  to  this  city.  He  also  was  the  writer  of  those 
laws  which  you  know  to  be  extant :  all  which  is  appro- 
priate to  the  very  citizen  wh<ise  character  we  are  draw- 


ing    *     * 


13 


S-'-J 


134  CICERO's  REPUBLIC. 

[An  unknown  number  of  pages  wanting.] 

III.  S.  Bo  you  think  there  is  any  harm  in  his  be- 
ing acquainted  with  the  nature  of  roots  and  seeds  ? 

M.     None,  if  only  his  work  is  not  neglected. 

S.  But  do  you  think  it  to  be  properly  the  study  of  a' 
farmer  1 

M.  Not  in  the  least ;  for  the  cultivation  of  the  land 
would  often  be  unattended  to. 

S.  Therefore,  as  a  farmer  is  acquainted  with  the  na- 
ture of  his  soil,  a  steward  with  the  nature  of  letters, 
and  each  can  turn  from  the  amusement  of  theory  to  the 
greater  utility  of  practice  ;  so  this  our  ruler  may  be 
thoroughly  conversant  with  the  knowledge  of  rights 
and  of  laws ;  he  may  have  looked  even  into  the  very 
fountains  of  them :  but  let  not  his  consultations,  his 
constant  readings,  and  his  writings  occupy  him  too 
much  ;  B^ut  let  him  be  as  it  were  both  steward  and  far- 
mer to  the  commonwealth.  Let  him  be  skilled  in  the 
principles  of  law  without  which  no  man  can  be  just ; 
let  him  not  be  ignorant  of  civil  law :  but  let  it  be  as  the 
pilot  who  studies  the  stars  ;  the  physician  who  studies 
the  nature  of  plants  and  minerals ;  each  turning  his 
knowledge  to  the  benefit  of  his  art,  without  permitting 
it  to  impede  the  practical  use  of  his  vocation     *     *    * 

I  An  unknown  number  of  pages  wanting.] 

lY^  *  *  *  *  In  those  states  where  the  good 
look  for  praise  and  honour,  and  fly  from  ignominy  and 
dii^ace.     Not  so  much  restrained  by  apprehension  of 


BOOK  V.  1S5 

the  penalties  established  by  law,  but  by  a  sentiment  of 
self-respect,  which  nature  has  planted  in  man,  a  sort  of 
dread  of  deserved  censure.  This  sentiment  the  ruler  of 
a  state  strengthens  by  pubhc  opinion,  and  confirms  by 
education,  and  by  institutions,  that  shame  may  deter  the 
citizen  from  crime  as  much  as  fear.  But  these  consi- 
derations properly  belong  to  renown,  and  shall  be  more 
abundantly  considered. 

V.  Life,  however,  and  the  comfortable  enjoyment 
of  it,  are  constituted  by  legal  marriages,  lawful  children ; 
the  keeping  hallowed  the  seats  of  the  penate  gods,  and 
the  domestic  lares  ;  that  all  may  enjoy  public  and  pri- 
vate comforts.  Without  good  government,  private  life 
cannot  be  agreeable,  nor  can  any  one  be  more  happy 
than  in  a  well  regulated  state     *     *     *     * 


TfSHI 

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